Savin' Me
by crystalblue19
Summary: After another failed robbery, Lifty is left for dead by his brother. He's later surprised to find out that he's been saved by a timid redhead who mercifully takes care of him and offers him a place to stay, despite his reputation. Lifty/Flaky
1. Chapter 1

**Decided to make a Lifty/Flaky story since there seems to be a severe lack of FlakyxLifty/Shifty fics. And, yes these are humanized version of the characters.  
**

**Title of the story is from the Nickelback song 'Savin' Me' for some reason listening to that song could only make me think about Lifty/Flaky. X)**

**xXx**

"Te he he he," a pair of green haired twins snickered as they casually walked past a violet haired male with a mole on his cheek, each of them carrying a large sack over their shoulders.

They entered the music store and looked around with wide grins on their faces. Eyes greedily taking in the sight of all the expensive items they could steal.

"Hurry up Lifty, and grab as much stuff as you can before that wannabe superhero comes." Shifty commanded, running off with his sack.

Lifty nodded and eyed the CDs. Adjusting his sunglasses, he made his way over to them and started dumping them hurriedly into the sack, taking a few headphones, his typical mischievous grin on his face as he snickered, knowing that he could make some big bucks from Disco Bear with the headphones and CDs.

Glancing back at where his brother was at the other side of the store, Lifty saw his brother stuffing multiple guitars inside of his sack before closing it and tossing it over his shoulder to hold as he looked around for anything else to steal.

Closing his own sack, Lifty strode over to the large window next to the entrance where he could see the violet haired employee still outside, wiping down the window, oblivious to the two inside.

Green eyes widened in alarm when Lifty spotted a blue speck in the sky quickly making its way over to where they were. He hurried over to his brother and tugged on his sleeve insistently. "Shifty! The blue idiot is coming we have to go!"

Shifty brushed him off, trying to figure out how to open the cash register. "Hang on! I'm trying to get this thing open! Here," he pushed one of the guitars from his sack into Lifty's hand. "Hurry up and smash it open!"

Lifty briefly glared at his twin, irritated that he's always forced to do all the grunt work just because he was younger. Nonetheless, he tightened his grip around the handle and lifted it above his head before slamming it down on the register.

Moving the guitar away, Shifty inspected the register, frowning when it still refused to open.

"Again!" He demanded, pointing at the register.

Lifty rolled his eyes and began to repeatedly hammer the register with the guitar until he heard a loud click and saw something green float up from inside.

"Alright!" Shifty cackled, shoving the guitar away and grabbing handfuls of bills to stuff into his sack.

Lifty frowned and ran back to the large window with the guitar in hand, he gasped and threw his arms up to cover his face when the glass suddenly shattered, he felt something slam into him sending him flying back, skidding to a stop next to his twin.

Ignoring the stinging in his arm from the multiple glass pieces buried inside, Lifty painfully pulled himself up, looking to his petrified brother standing next to him.

"Shit." Shifty muttered, tightening his grip on the sack as Splendid smirked at them, standing triumphantly with his hands on his hips.

"You guys are busted now." He chuckled, not noticing that he was standing on The Mole, who was laying limply on the ground, covered in glass shards, a pool of blood forming around his unmoving body.

In a moment of panic, Lifty tossed the guitar he was still holding, watching as it harmlessly broke into pieces on the unfazed hero.

Deciding to chance it, the brothers held onto their bags and darted around Splendid, Shifty running past the hero's right while Lifty ran past his left.

For a second, Splendid looked from his right and left in confusion before setting on a determined expression and flying after the two. His blue eyes widened when he noticed how far away the two already were in just a few seconds.

He frowned, berating himself for forgetting how fast the twins were. His face brightened with a smile when he came up with an idea. Sucking in a long breath, the blue haired male quickly let it out in a strong wind that managed to destroy many things on the way to the two, carrying along sharp objects in the current.

Shifty and Lifty cried out in fear when they suddenly felt themselves lifted from the floor and blown forward. Both of them getting hit by various objects until they finally tumbled to a stop.

Lifty let out a sigh of relief when he felt himself finally roll to a stop, landing on his back, he slowly sat up and smiled to see he came out in one piece.

Only to feel himself forced back to the ground when something pierced his abdomen, bursting out his back to stab into the ground, pinning him to the floor. He let out an agonized scream when the pain suddenly hit him full force, his wide green eyes stared in horror at the thin pipe jutting out from his abdomen.

Lifting his shaking hands, Lifty wrapped them around the pipe and tried in vain to pull it out, a pained whimper escaped him as he wiggled the pipe around, feeling the rust from the metal scrape furiously against his insides, causing him to clench his teeth together to keep from letting out another ear piercing scream.

He gasped, smiling happily when he noticed his brother standing over him, looking down at him with a blank expression. "S-Shifty!" He coughed up some blood that trailed down the side of his face. "Pull this thing out of me." He pleaded weakly.

Shifty suddenly smirked, reached over to the pipe and wriggled it around roughly. Lifty's eyes widened, mouth dropping open in a silent scream, his hands grasping the pipe weakly to stop Shifty from moving it around, he vaguely noticed his back becoming warm and wet from the amount of blood he was losing.

Shifty let go of the pipe and crouched down to look at his helpless brother.

Lifty panted heavily and stared up at his brother in confusion and betrayal. "W-why?"

The older twin snickered and adjusted his fedora before reaching over and digging in his twin's pocket, pulling out a leather wallet and stuffing it into his bag. "Hey, it's either I save you or I take the bag of money and merchandise...and truthfully, I prefer the money."

Tears pricked the corner of Lifty's eyes as he watched his brother stand up and take his bag too, tossing them both over his shoulder to hold.

Shifty stared down at his twin with his usual troublemaking grin. "Don't worry, you'll just die and come back to life like always, then we can go rob another store." He sent Lifty a mock salute and took off snickering.

Lifty could only lay there weakly, a tear finally managing to escape his eye to trail down the side of his face, he stared at the beautiful sunny sky, letting out an occasional whimper.

Through his blurry vision, he could have sworn he saw a blue figure fly past him, hopefully going to get his brother and give him what he deserves for leaving his own flesh and blood like that.

His chest moved up and down rapidly as his body tried to desperately take in air with the amount of blood it was losing every second that passed, his eyes lowered a bit, black beginning to line the edges of his vision as his body began to numb the weaker it got.

Suddenly, the color red appeared above him, deliriously, he wondered if maybe his eyes were filling up with blood turning his vision red.

He barely felt the soft hand that gently touched his cheek. A gentle, panic laced voice bounced faintly around his throbbing head before he finally lost consciousness.

**xXx**

**Yes, I'm sure the brother's love each other but I also noticed that they also have no problem ditching the other when it comes to money. I actually like Shifty/Flaky more but Lifty looks like he gets pushed around more since he's younger and seems like he would be the nicer twin that would get along with Flaky. xD**

**Anyways, thanks for reading! :D**


	2. Chapter 2

**Just wanted to say thanks for the lovely reviews, especially you Nom de Plume, you made my day. X)**

**xXx**

Waking up after a death is just like waking up from a normal night's sleep. You feel drowsy and light headed, and just have the strong urge to grab the blanket and bury your head underneath it, trying to win a few more minutes of precious shut eye. But most of all...you feel refreshed, having a brand new body, free from all the damages from the day before, it makes you feel full of energy.

But Lifty didn't feel like that, his body felt extremely heavy, as if some unseen force was weighing him down. There was something constricting wrapped around his entire middle, he groaned, turning his head to the side slightly.

Worst of all, there was something digging in his arm, sending an unbearable sting up the length of his arm. But he is exhausted and tried to ignore it in favor of drifting off again.

He found it extremely difficult to do, however, as the hard thing in his arm was still moving around, almost like it was searching for something. It eventually must have found what it was looking for since it slowly pulled out of his arm.

"Can I have my lollipop now?" His eyebrows scrunched together, that dorky voice sounded familiar.

"I-in a second, let me just finish taking the last piece of glass from his arm." A soft voice replied, it sounded somewhat familiar too.

With some struggling, Lifty managed to tilt his head towards the source of the voices, his heavy eyelids lifted partway to view the people next to him.

A red and yellowish green blur was all that greeted him, he blinked languidly to get the sleep out of his eyes, but wasn't very successful. He did notice the red blur move down a bit as they stuck the silver thing they were holding back into a different part of his arm.

If he wasn't so exhausted, the person messing with his arm would have heard an earful of curses from him by now.

When they finally found the last piece of glass, Lifty heard them set aside the tool they were using instead replacing the hard steel with a wet cloth smoothing along his arms, soothing the raw cuts in his skin.

They began wrapping him and the male finally let his fatigue take him, heavy lids dropping close, pulling him back into a peaceful sleep.

**xXx**

The next time he woke up, Lifty felt a little bit more rested, though his body was still sore. He sniffed, a wonderful smell drifting into his nostrils.

Food. His stomach growled loudly, it smelled delicious, especially after years of only eating stolen meat and bread the scent of homemade food was lovely. His lids lifted and scanned the area around him in confusion. This wasn't his home.

Where was he?

This wasn't good, he wasn't home. He had no idea where he was or where his brother was. Even though he clearly remembers how Shifty abandoned him earlier, Lifty still does look to him for guidance, he was the eldest after all.

And without him telling him what to do, Lifty felt lost, not knowing how to handle this strange new situation. His hand moved up to grip the top of the red couch and dug his fingers in, using it to lift his upper body up, moving painstakingly slow, wincing the entire way. His abdomen felt like it was on fire the more he pulled up.

When he finally managed to sit up properly, the injured male found himself panting heavily from the exertion he forced on himself, a bead sweat dripped down the side of his head.

One hand wandered to rub his burning stomach as he eyed the door not too far from him. He needed to get out of here. He needed to find Shifty. Even if he was starving and pissed at his twin.

Sucking in a deep breath, Lifty braced himself with the side of the couch, preparing to stand up.

"W-what are you doing?" The soft voice from earlier slipped into his ear, shifting his attention from trying to stand up to the woman staring at him in concern. "You shouldn't be moving around yet, you'll reopen the wound."

She stepped forward and gently pushed him to lie back down, which he did with no fight, he was too busy staring openly at her face, causing her cheeks to turn pink as she pulled away from him.

"What?" She asked, feeling embarrassed with the way he was staring so intently at her.

"Flaky," he muttered, his eyebrow lifted. "What am I doing at your house?"

A shaky giggle escaped the red head as she took a seat on the coffee table in front of the couch, folding her hands on her lap politely. "Well, y-you were hurt and I wanted to help you."

He scoffed and turned his gaze to the ceiling. "Why would you help a petty thief?"

"I-I don't know...I just felt I needed to help you, you looked like you were in so much pain..." She explained quietly.

"You could have just left me there to die, I would've just came back the next day." He replied, crossing his ankles and resting them on the arm of the couch, figuring he might as well make himself comfortable if he couldn't move.

"But that wouldn't be the right thing to do." She fiddled with her thumbs so she wouldn't have to look at him as he turned his green orbs back to her.

"Wouldn't be the right thing to do," he repeated sarcastically with a roll of his eyes. She bit her lip, chewing insistently on it and he suddenly found himself angry when he thought of a reason why she would save him.

"Or did you save me because you're planning on turning me in to Splendid?" He growled. "You probably want to get some type of reward for my capture, huh?"

"N-no! I-it's not like that!" She stuttered frantically, waving her hands in front of her rapidly. "I really just wanted to help you, I promise. It could've been anyone and I would've helped them."

He calmed down a bit as he observed her reaction and decided that she was telling the truth, Flaky didn't seem like the type to be a good liar. "...Fine. I'll let it go for now. But I have question."

Flaky blinked, flicking her crimson orbs to his to let him know that he had her undivided attention. "I know you wouldn't be able to carry me on your own, so who helped you bring me here?"

"Nutty." She answered automatically with a small smile.

"The sugar freak? How did you get his hyper ass to keep still long enough to help you?" She frowned a bit at his curse, but quickly replaced it with her smile.

"I bribed him with a giant lollipop that I bought earlier." She giggled.

"Of course. The hyperactive dumbass would do anything for sugar." He snickered, remembering the time Shifty and him had sold Nutty a whole truck full of candy.

His attention turned back to her once he was done relaying old memories. "But I figured you would have that war vet help you out. You guys seemed to be good pals."

"Oh..um..Flippy..he," she glanced off to the side, nibbling her lip. "He wouldn't have been able to help me with the condition you were in."

Lifty raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

She fiddled with her hair. "He's, um...not exactly stable when he sees stuff like blood."

"Stable? What he's scared of blood?"

"N-no, he has post-traumatic stress disorder. It's like he's a different person when something war related triggers it." She explained with her eyes lowered to the floor.

Lifty frowned at the ceiling, trying to remember everytime he interacted with the war vet. "Hmm, I don't ever remember seeing him acting differently." He muttered, when his mind came up blank.

"That's because you've never lived through one of his rampages. You should know by now that everytime your body regenerates you can never remember how or why you died." He saw a drop of sweat slide down her neck as she stared off to the side with wide eyes, a shiver wracked through her body as she seemed to be recalling images of Flippy's massacres.

"You've lived through his, um, attacks?" Lifty shrugged, not exactly sure what to call it since he can't ever remember seeing it for himself.

Flaky nodded shakily. "Yes. There was lots of times where he killed me, which I thankfully don't remember. But there were lots of odd times where he spared me or never got the chance to kill me, I'm not sure which."

Lifty laced his fingers together, resting them on his belly. "If you can't remember, than how do you know he killed you before?"

"Because he would apologize repeatedly the next day and try his best to make it up to me." Her fingers were now picking at her sweater, Lifty noticed that she could not for the life of her keep still when she talked, she always fidgeted, trying to find something to keep her preoccupied as she chatted with someone.

A loud rumble interrupted the two, they looked up with wide eyes at each other, Lifty felt his cheeks warm when Flaky giggled.

"Sounds like someone's hungry." She teased, as she stood up, watching him with amused eyes as he covered his stomach with bright cheeks.

"I'll bring you some of the beef stew I made." She told him, as she left him, heading for the kitchen.

As he listened to the clacking sound of her grabbing his bowl and preparing food, Lifty decided to occupy himself by checking over his injuries. He lifted his arms examining the bandages wrapped around his arms, nice and snug, covering all the cuts made from the glass shards.

His green eyes roved down his waist, taking in the professionally wrapped wound, except for the bit of red beginning to seep through, which he figured was probably his own fault for exerting his body when it obviously wasn't ready.

He brushed his fingers along the gauze, she did a good job, maybe she learned from that pink haired girl. He did know that Flaky was pretty good friends with that giggly nurse.

Movement from his peripheral vision broke him out of his thoughts as he looked to see Flaky placing his bowl onto the coffee table, then turned to help him sit up so he could eat.

She picked the bowl back up and placed it onto his lap. Lifty was practically salivating as he eyed the steaming stew with greedy eyes, he hungrily licked his lips as he grabbed the utensil and shoved a spoonful into his waiting mouth.

It burned his mouth, but it was the best damn bite of food he's had his whole life. And with that thought, he lifted the bowl up to his level and began shoveling food into his mouth, not caring that he looked like a messy pig.

A satisfied sigh left his lips once he finished, lowering the bowl to his lap, his stomach sated. The woman next to him laughed mirthfully as she lifted a napkin to wipe his cheek that was smeared with soup, similar to how a mother would a child.

"Feel better?" Flaky asked, taking his bowl and setting it next to her.

He nodded silently. "..Thanks..I guess." He wasn't used to showing gratitude to anybody, not even to his own brother.

Flaky merely smiled at him and left to grab a pillow which she placed behind his back so that he was more comfortable as he stayed up to rest his full stomach.

Lifty stared at the redhead in interest as she left once again, only to come back with a blanket that she placed over lap. "Really, why are you taking care of me? There has to be a reason. What are you going to get out of this?"

"I already told you, I'm not getting anything out of this, it's just that I can't let anyone just die like that. Even if they will just come back the next day." Flaky informed him patiently, sitting back down on the coffee table and began playing with her knee high socks.

Lifty sent her a hard stare. "There has to be more to it than that, nobody does anything without wanting something in return."

Small hands moved to smooth out the short black skirt as Flaky's lips tugged downwards. "The world isn't so black and white Lifty. There are some people that genuinely want to just help someone out when they need it."

A long sigh left Lifty's mouth, he brushed a hand through his hair. "Sure, whatever you say Flaky."

Flaky sighed sadly, noticing that he obviously didn't believe her. "Anyways, you're welcome to stay here as long as you need. I have a guest room ready for you to stay in when we get the chance to move you." She informed him with a cheerful smile.

He was about to ask her what she meant by we, when a knock sounded at the front door, drawing her attention over to it. He stiffened, wondering if maybe she told the blue idiot that she had him and invited him over so he could toss his ass into jail.

His green eyes narrowed, watching her carefully as she strolled over to the door, she opened the door but unfortunately for him, the door opened towards where he was laying, blocking whoever was outside from his sight.

He only found out who was on the other side when Flaky greeted them.

"Hi Flippy!"

**xXx**

**And in comes Flippy. And if anyone is confused about the whole memory thing, I'll explain it, I have a bit of a theory that none of the HTFs can remember anything couple minutes prior to their death, since half the time no one can seem to remember that Flippy has PTSD and keeps doing stuff that triggers it. xD If anyone is still confused than you can tell me and I'll try to explain it in a PM. :3**

**Anyways, thanks for reading! :D**


	3. Chapter 3

**Finally got the chance to update again. Thanks for all the reviews, faves, and follows, I appreciate it. X)**

**xXx**

"Hey Flaky," Lifty let out a sigh of relief knowing that it wasn't the wannabe hero; but he wasn't so sure if Flippy was exactly a better alternative, considering what Flaky told him about the vet's psychotic episodes. "What'd you need my help with?"

He heard a nervous chuckle come from the red head and could already imagine her poking her fingers together in embarrassment, with a light pink tinting her pale cheeks.

"Well...you see Flippy...it's not exactly what I need help with but w-who." She stammered.

"What do you mean who?" He asked with a perplexed tone, Lifty could bet that the vet was staring at her with a raised brow, trying to figure out what she meant.

"P-please don't get mad when I show you." She was starting to sound anxious and was more than likely nibbling on her lip.

A deep chuckle sounded. "Now why would I get mad at you?" Obviously, Flippy wasn't catching on to the fact that she was being serious.

It was silent for a few seconds. Then Lifty noticed Flaky backtrack from the door until she was in his line of vision, she lifted a hand and ushered Flippy in. He stepped inside and closed the door behind him without once taking his confused green eyes off of her.

Their gazes stayed locked for a couple seconds longer until Flaky broke it by turning to look at his incapacitated form. Flippy's brows scrunched together, deciding to follow where her crimson eyes were set at.

Once the green haired male's eyes landed on him, Lifty swore that he would have given up anything for a camera right at that moment 'cause the look on Flippy's face was absolutely hilarious to him.

The vet was staring at him with wide eyes reminiscent to a guy who just found out that his one night stand was pregnant, his jaw practically hanging to the floor as he tried to register the fact that the most nervous and paranoid woman in town was currently housing a thief.

The corner of Lifty's lips quirked up as he stared back at the flabbergasted man with a raised brow. "What's the matter soldier boy? Cat got your tongue?"

That seemed to snap Flippy out of his stupefied state; he shook his head and straightened his slouched shoulders, agape mouth closing to tighten into a hard line. He turned to Flaky with stern eyes.

"Flaky...can I talk to you?" He asked through gritted teeth. She nodded and waited for him to speak.

Flippy sighed, sending a pointed glare to the man on the couch who merely smirked back at him. "I want to talk to you...alone." He stepped forward and seized her wrist, proceeding to storm off to some other room with a nervous red head in tow.

Lifty watched them disappear down the hall and turn into a nearby room, the door slamming loudly behind them. His brows lowered as he turned to face the ceiling, his ear twitched, trying to eavesdrop on the conversation.

Having trained his ears on picking up even the smallest stuff - it was quite useful for whenever he and his brother robbed a place, Lifty was able to easily listen in with attentive ears, especially when Flippy was talking with a raised tone.

"F-Flippy." He heard her stutter.

"What are you thinking Flaky?" He growled loudly.

"Y-you said y-you wouldn't get m-mad at me." Her stuttering was getting worse, the soldier must be really intimidating her now.

"That's before I knew you were housing a damn thief of all things!"

"B-but-"

"He's a thief Flaky! A thief! Why would you even think of letting him into your home?" Oh great, now he's yelling, the poor girl must be scared out of her mind.

"H-he was h-hurt.."

"You should have just left him! He would just come back the next day! What if he takes advantage of you?" Lovely, now he's accusing him of things that he hasn't even planned on doing.

"F-Flippy..p-please calm down..I-I can see h-him in your eyes..h-he's going to take over if you don't stop.." She sounded like she was on the verge of tears and Lifty briefly wondered if he should intervene somehow.

It was silent for a few minutes; Lifty wondered if maybe the vet was trying to collect himself.

Minutes continued to pass and the injured man was beginning to grow bored now that the drama was all gone.

Until finally: "I'm sorry." The soldier murmured in a tone so low that Lifty almost missed it.

"I-it's ok."

"I'm sorry Flaky," he muttered again. "I don't know what got into me..I never yell at anybody. Especially not at you."

"R-really its ok," her voice was muffled and Lifty assumed she must have been hugging Flippy, her face buried into his shirt. "I'm just glad that you didn't l-lose control."

A long sigh.

"Flaky," he started in a softer tone. "What were you thinking letting him into your house?"

"I-I just...I..he..needed help Flippy." She told him, fumbling over her words.

Another sigh. "You're too nice for your own good, you know that, right?"

She didn't reply, probably blushing in embarrassment.

"What are you going to do when he gets better?"

"I-"

"What if he takes advantage of your kindness and robs you when he's healed? What then?" He pressed and Lifty rolled his eyes in exasperation as Flippy continued grilling Flaky, too bad he couldn't just get up and leave the house so he wouldn't have to listen to the soldiers ranting.

"He won't." She stated in a surprisingly steady voice.

"How do you know?"

"Flippy...just trust me, please?" She asked gently.

"Flaky..."

"He's not as bad as his brother." Now how would she know that? Is she just assuming he's nicer because he was impaled to the sidewalk while his twin got off scot free?

"They practically have the same personalities Flaky, I'm pretty sure he's as bad as his brother, neither of them are good." He argued, and Lifty had to agree, him and Shifty were similar in every way except for the fact that the older twin was overly bossy and dominating.

"Flippy, I'll be fine. I'm sure he won't do anything, trust me, please." She seemed quite sure that he wouldn't do anything to her, and Lifty was really tempted to do the opposite of what she said just to prove her wrong in assuming things of people.

"I don't like this..." Flippy continued arguing, though his replies were getting weaker showing that Flaky was obviously winning.

"I-I'm sorry." She may apologize but she was set in her decision, she was going to take care of the injured man in her living room, whether Flippy likes it or not doesn't matter. He'll just have to deal.

"I'm going to check on you everyday. I hope you know that." Welp, looks like Flippy gave up.

"Some soldier." Lifty snickered, lacing his fingers behind his head. "Can't even get a timid red head to listen to him."

Well, looks like he found a ticket for free food and a nice house to stay at, and he doesn't have to listen to his brother running his mouth and making him do everything.

Though he had to admit, his fingers itched to steal something, but he couldn't fulfill that urge with the condition he was in. Maybe he'll just rob Flaky when he's able to move around.

"So..what'd you need help with? Or did you call me over just to show me the thief on your couch?" Flippy's voice brought him out of his thoughts and back to the other two.

"Uhhm, well Lifty isn't really able to get up on his own..and I wanted to move him to the guest room so he could be more comfortable.."

"You're letting the thief get comfortable? Flaky..." Geez, doesn't soldier boy know that he has a name?

"I don't care what he's known as; I'm not just going to leave an i-injured person on my small couch." Now that she mentioned it..the couch was pretty small, as a matter of fact, he just noticed that his feet hangs off the edge.

But then again, he never noticed since the couch is a lot more comfortable than the crappy, springy beds that he and his brother owns.

"...So, I'm guessing that you want me to carry him to the guest room?" Uh, duh captain obvious, anybody could have figured out that that's why Flaky called him over. Lifty rolled his eyes once again.

"Yes please, I-I can help him to the bathroom later whenever he has to go I just need help bringing him to the room since it's a pretty far walk compared to the bathroom." Oh god, he forgot about the fact that she would have to help him to the bathroom. He just hoped that she wouldn't stand there and watch him pee.

A deep chuckle drifted from the room. "It sucks that I can never say no to you. Come on then, lets go move the thief." There he goes again, calling him something other than his name.

The door clicked open, and Lifty watched them approach from the corner of his eye. "You guys done with your lovers spat?" He teased with a smirk.

His smirk widened when Flaky lit up like a Christmas light. Flippy, however, was sending him a stone cold glare.

Despite his injured state, Lifty just kept his cocky smirk plastered to his face.

The tension in the room was beginning to become unbearable the longer the men's eyes were locked and Flaky felt the need to alleviate it somehow. "Uhm, L-Lifty I have a guest room for you to stay in...I asked F-Flippy here to carry you there."

"Oh goody, I get to be carried by soldier boy! I feel so honored!" He replied sarcastically, clapping his hands together like an excited little girl.

Flippy's eyes narrowed further at the sarcastic male. "Don't push your luck. I might just throw you in the trash outside." He took steps forward to pick up Lifty when he suddenly paused.

Lifty stared at him with a perplexed expression as he took in the soldier's wide eyes. "What's the matter with you?"

Flaky, having noticed her friend freezing, stepped around him and looked up at his face. Her brows scrunched together as she followed his gaze to Lifty's abdomen, gasping when she realized why he was petrified like that.

A large red spot was forming on Lifty's middle from him reopening his wound when he pushed his body too far. She hurriedly grabbed a pillow and placed it on Lifty's belly, then worriedly turned back to Flippy, noticing that his pupils were beginning to constrict.

"F-Flippy," reaching up, she placed her hands on his cheek, patting them lightly. "Come on, Flippy. It's ok, snap out of it."

She continued speaking soothing words, until Flippy managed to snap out of whatever trance he was in. Shutting his greenish-yellow eyes, Flippy shook his head rapidly.

Pure green shot back open to stare at the woman in front of him nervously. "That was too close." He whispered.

Flaky nodded and turned him around, gently steering him in the direction of the kitchen. "G-go get something to drink. I'm going to change Lifty's bandages."

After making sure that Flippy stayed in the kitchen, Flaky retrieved her first aid kit and sat down next to the bemused male. "So...was that supposed to be part of his disorder?" He asked bluntly.

She nodded, untying the gauze and beginning to unwind the stained bandage from him. "Yes..that was a bit close there, if I hadn't covered you in time it would have been too late." She replied in a hushed tone.

He lowered his head to hers, since she apparently was trying to be secretive about their conversation. She blushed at his close proximity but tried to ignore it as she grabbed the antiseptic wipes to clean his wound. "Is there anything else besides war related stuff that could set him off?"

He was doing a good job at masking his pain from her dabbing at the laceration with the wipe – so good that she almost thought that he wasn't feeling any discomfort. But the twitch in his lean arm everytime she touched the injury along with the tightening of his jaw told her otherwise.

"Well..I-I would advise you not to fight or agitate him. I've seen him flip out when he w-was pushed too far." Huh. No wonder she was telling Flippy to calm down earlier.

"That's too bad, I wanted to pick on him." Lifty snickered, lifting his arms to let her wrap the gauze around him.

"P-please don't." Flaky stuttered, finishing up with his bandage and tossed the used gauze in the living room trash, not wanting to even chance walking by Flippy with the dirty gauze.

Leaning back against the armrest, Lifty watched with bored eyes as Flaky made her way to the kitchen, poking her head around the corner and calling Flippy.

The pair wandered back to the injured male, Flippy's eyes wandered down to Lifty's wrapped middle and he could see a bit of relief make its way into the vet's eyes as he gazed at the pristine white, not a drop of red in sight.

"Time to move you, thief." Flippy grumbled, hooking his arms under Lifty's knees and shoulders, proceeding to easily pick him up bridal style - much to Lifty's distress.

"H-hey man! I'm not a damn chick, you can just hold me up while I walk on my own two feet!" He complained, much to Flippy's annoyance.

"Yeah, well, this way is faster..I don't like touching you." Flippy growled, 'accidentally' banging Lifty's head on the wall when he kept complaining.

"F-Flippy! B-be careful." Flaky reprimanded, rubbing Lifty's head gently.

"Sorry Flaky." Flippy apologized, though Lifty could see the smug smirk on his face.

"I'm the one you should be apologizing to." Lifty grumbled quietly with a glare.

Eventually they reached the room; Flaky ran ahead to pull the blanket aside so Flippy can set him down.

Which he did.

Unceremoniously.

Lifty landed with a pained 'oof'. "Damn," he winced, placing a hand on his abdomen. "Is that how you treat injured people?"

"No. That's how I treat thieves." Flippy replied coldly, sending him a harsh glare before turning to Flaky, eyes softening a bit. "I'll be in the living room."

"Ok," Flaky sighed once he left, grabbing the blanket, she covered Lifty before taking a seat next to him. "I-I'm sorry. Flippy isn't usually like this, he's actually really friendly to everyone he meets."

Lifty scoffed and looked away from her. "Well, it's to be expected with my reputation. I've gotten used to it after a while."

She frowned, not knowing how to reply to that. "I'm sorry."

A humorless chuckle escaped the green haired male. "What are you sorry for?"

Pink painted her cheeks as she gave an unsure shrug. "Weirdo." He muttered, sending her a small smile when she turned to him with wide eyes at the playful name call.

Frowning lips eventually lifted up into a soft smile as she continued gazing at him.

He suddenly sent her his trademark grin. "Did you know that Shifty and I robbed soldier boy of everything in his house?"

"Really?" Flaky giggled. "Flippy never told me anything about that."

"He probably didn't want to tell you about how he slept through the entire process of us stealing his shit." He snickered, fondly remembering how they stole everything.

"But I guess he probably killed us, because I don't remember anything after that and we lost everything that we took." He grumbled.

"Well, I guess that's why Flippy is holding such a grudge against you." Flaky giggled, twirling a strand of hair on her finger.

Lifty snickered. "I'm sure it is. I mean we literally took everything in his house without him knowing!"

As he continued telling her about the way that Flippy actually slept through all the noise he and his brother made throughout his house, Lifty eventually noticed that Flaky was actually smiling.

And not that nervous or friendly smile that she always gives - but an actual genuine smile.

And he had to admit that he kinda liked her smile.

**xXx**

**Flippy may have seemed like a jerk in this but he's really not - he just doesn't like the twins. xD**

**Anyways, thanks for reading! :D**


	4. Chapter 4

**Well, I let AmIObsessed choose what she wanted to see updated and she chose this, so here it is~ :3**

**Though, this chapter is a bit short, for some reason I was struggling with this one. )x**

**xXx**

"I'm sorry," Flaky started, standing up from the bed after Lifty finished with his story. "I should go by Flippy now before he gets w-worried."

Lifty watched expressionlessly as Flaky walked to the door and opened it. "U-uhm, just call me if you need anything, okay?"

A small grunt was the only reply she heard as she left the door open and headed back down the hall to where her friend was located.

She found him on the couch, leafing through one of her old magazines, a stack of her novels sat next to him in a neat stack. The vet has picked up a love for books ever since he started working at the library and always dug through her book collection for anything interesting.

"They're all the same t-things, I haven't gotten any new books." Flaky told him, plopping down next to him and leaning over his shoulder to see what he was looking at.

Flippy skimmed through the last few pages before letting it drift close as he dropped it onto the coffee table. "I know, but it just became a habit already to dig through your books."

"Speaking of books," Flaky glanced at her clock, seeing it was quarter to five. "Don't you work at the library today?"

Sighing, the green haired male nodded but made no effort to move, just merely sat there, staring at her magazine with an unreadable expression. But she was still able to catch the slight worry in those light green eyes.

Smiling, the redhead gently laid a hand on his arm to reassure him. "I'll be fine Flippy, I promise."

He turned to her with an unsure look, emerald orbs searching her own crimson depths for any fault in her expression. Eventually, he gave up and just placed his hand over her smaller one on his arm. "Okay, just...just promise me that you'll call me if you need help. I don't like it when you try to do things on your own."

She nodded and carefully slipped her hand out from under his to rest timidly on her lap. "I-I promise."

He looked away with a frown when she withdrew her hand from his grasp. "Well...I guess I better go before I'm late."

Turning to his shy friend, Flippy sent her a farewell smile as he stood up and strolled to the door. "I'll come back tomorrow afternoon."

Waving to him, Flaky waited a couple minutes after he shut the door before getting up and deciding to go check on her guest.

Peeking her head around the doorway, Flaky spotted Lifty flipping through the tiny tv she had set up in the room, seems that he had somehow managed to find the remote.

"Y-you doing okay? D-do you need anything?" Flaky asked shyly, curling her fingers into the hem of her skirt.

Lifty shifted his attention from the screen to her with an uncomfortable expression. "Well, now that you mention it.." He trailed off, not sure if he should ask her.

"..Yes?" Flaky urged, encouraging him to go on.

"Um, well..." Lifty brushed a hand through his hair before turning his forest green eyes up to her. "Can you...help me to the bathroom?"

Pink painted her cheeks as Flaky realized that he had to go pee. "O-oh, yes, of course I-I can help you." She scurried over to him and let him place an arm over her shoulder as she wrapped her arm around his waist to help him stand up.

Her thin legs shook a bit as she attempted to carry a majority of his weight by letting him lean on her. Lifty's feet drug languidly on the rug, his body feeling abnormally heavy as he gritted his teeth and tried his best to not lean on the petite female so much.

He hated this.

He's never felt so physically weak before.

Or so embarrassed when they finally reached the bathroom, and Flaky led him to the toilet. She tilted her red face up to his and Lifty raised an eyebrow, wondering if she was going to really stand there the whole time.

That is until he noticed her hands heading towards the front of his pants, apparently going to unbutton it for him.

His mischievous side actually didn't mind letting her, wanting to see her become flustered and fumble with the button. But his rational side decided that messing with the person who saved your life would not be very nice.

His rational side ended up winning as his hands shot out to gently wrap around her tiny wrists. "No. It's ok, I'll be able to handle it from here. I'll call you when I finish."

The redness on her face subsided a bit as she nodded and happily left him in the bathroom to do his business.

God, Lifty was so glad that Shifty couldn't see him now otherwise his pride would shrink even more than it already did. His twin would have a field day with the fact that he couldn't even go to the bathroom without the help of the small girl.

Somehow, he just knows that Shifty would take advantage of that knowledge to put him down even more than he already does.

With a frown pulling at the corner of his lips at the negative direction his thoughts were taking, Lifty zipped up his pants and flushed the toilet. Placing his hands on the counter, he used it to keep himself upright as he struggled to pull himself to the sink.

Shit. He hated being so helpless to the point where even going to the sink uses so much energy.

"Flaky," Lifty called, wiping his wet hands on his pants. "I'm finished. You can come in now."

After a couple hesitated seconds to make sure he was completely finished, Flaky reopened the door and let him place his arm around her again as they began the slow journey back to the guest room.

Reaching the bed, Flaky helped him heave his heavy body back onto the bed, by the time they were finished, the redhead was panting lightly. She obviously wasn't the most strong type.

As Flaky rested on the bed, silently catching her breath. Lifty noticed his skin felt slightly sticky from not bathing the day before.

"Uhm, so will I be able to..you know, take a shower?" Lifty asked, rubbing his hand along his arm, not enjoying the skin that was sticky from dried sweat.

Scarlet leaked back onto her cheeks as she suddenly remembered about the fact that he needs to wash himself.

"O-oh, about that..you w-won't be able to go in the s-shower for a day or two..you have to let the wound close up first.." She mumbled, shyly poking her index fingers together.

"So, I'm just supposed to lay in my sweat for the next two or so days..?" Lifty asked with a frown, not liking the idea of spending two days laying around with grimy, sweat soaked skin.

"N-no! Uhm..." The redhead abruptly shot off of the bed and scrambled out of the door, leaving behind a very confused guest.

"What the hell was that about?" Lifty mumbled to himself, eyeing the open doorway.

After a few long minutes, Flaky reappeared, this time with a somewhat large bucket.

"What is that for?" Lifty asked as she placed it on the ground next to the bed.

"W-well, since you can't s-shower...the only alternative I have is to wipe you down so you feel atleast somewhat clean until the day you can shower a-again." She explained, lifting a cloth out of the soapy water and squeezing out any excess liquid.

This certainly took an interesting turn, he couldn't help but think as he smirked, absorbing in the sight of her pink tinted cheeks as she shyly reached up to begin wiping down his face. "So, basically, you have to wipe down my entire body for me?"

She nodded, cheeks darkening further. "U-unless, you have enough strength to clean y-yourself?" She asked hopefully.

Oh, this was going to be fun. "No. I don't think I can, my arms feel too heavy.." He told her, sly smirk growing on his lips when she gulped and continued with cleaning his face, wiping the cool cloth along his warm cheek, every once in a while dipping and wringing out the cloth in the bucket.

Her face was aflame by the time she finished with his arms and back, and now had to move to his front. The thief had to bite the inside of his cheek to contain his laughter as he noticed her trying not to stare at his chiseled chest, shaky hands seeming almost nervous to touch his smooth chest as she swiped tentatively at it.

This wasn't like how she cleaned his wound and wrapped him up at all. It wasn't as embarrassing then since she didn't have to rub her hands along his chest like she did now. She wasn't dabbing at a bleeding wound; she was rubbing bare skin and that was enough to make her heat up at the thought of touching a male like this, even if it was just to get him clean.

She nearly jumped off the bed in fright when Lifty pushed his large hand down on hers, making her press her palm flat against his chest. He guided her hand to rub the cloth harder on his skin. "Like this Flaky, I could barely feel it with how soft you were doing it earlier." He murmured, inwardly gaining amusement from the way she frantically nodded her head, unable to find her voice as she shakily rubbed the cloth harder on his chest.

Finally, she got past his chest and placed the cloth back in the bucket as she glanced back up at him through her bangs. "Uhm...Lifty?"

"Hmm?" He looked down at her with the same amused smirk.

"C-can you..take off your p-pants?" She asked shyly, if possible her cheeks turned even redder at his wide eyes. Obviously, her question must've caught him off guard.

"What do you need my pants off for?"

Toying with her skirt, Flaky nibbled on her bottom lip. "Y-you want me to clean your legs r-right?"

"O-oh, right." Of course that would be the reason that she wanted his pants off. What was he thinking?

Unbuttoning his pants, Lifty attempted to shimmy out of them, but was having a hard even doing just that with his injuries.

Noticing his struggle, Flaky got up and despite her burning cheeks, helped him pull them off and place them off to the side.

Lifty then laid back against the headboard as Flaky picked the cloth back up and began cleaning from the bottom of his legs first.

Soon, she reached his thighs, and that's when Lifty noticed the slight warmth contaminating his cheeks as she went higher, almost reaching the area between his thighs. Thank god he was still wearing his boxers.

His amusement had all but disappeared when she started getting dangerously close to his personal area, instead now he was starting to feel flustered at her cleaning him.

At one point he had to stop her when the cloth had reached just under his boxers.

"T-that's good Flaky. You don't have to clean anymore." He mumbled, pushing her hands away from his upper thighs.

She seemed relieved that she was finished and dumped the cloth back into the bucket and picked it up to leave the room.

Lifty watched her go before dropping his head back against the headboard with an audible thud and releasing a breath he didn't realize that he's been holding.

The last thing he needed was for her to see him pitching a tent at the feeling of her rubbing his upper thighs.

**xXx**

**Woo, so there's that chap! Now I only owe you one more update AmI~**

**Thanks for reading! :D**


	5. Trust and Teasing

**Warning for Lifty's mouth.**

**xXx**

"Lifty." A soft voice murmured, nudging the bundle under the blanket lightly.

The bundle groaned and shifted a bit before ceasing all movement, a low snore coming from it.

Flaky sighed and poked him again. "L-Lifty, come on. It's almost nine in the morning, t-time to get up."

All she got in reply was an incoherent mumble that vaguely sounded like "fuck that. I wake up at twelve."

She placed a finger on her chin, thinking. "Um..I've got breakfast..if you're hungry."

"I'll eat it later." He grumbled into his pillow. He's not used to the morning hours, he and his brother always stayed up all night looting everyplace they can.

It became a habit for him to sleep all day and stay up all night. Not even food can change that process.

"Hmm." Flaky thought for a moment. Suddenly, she brightened and ran out of the room, coming back within seconds, holding something in her hands.

"Lifty." She called, gaining no response from the bundle.

"Oops, I dropped all my valuable coins~" She sang with an impish smile, letting the multiple coins fall out of her hand to drop noisily to the ground.

Immediately, the snoring of the young thief under the blanket was cut off as he rolled out of the bed with a loud thump, groaning, he rubbed his aching abdomen and reached out with his other hand for the scattered coins.

Flaky giggled, watching him drag all the coins to him, only to see that they were a bunch of rusty pennies.

"What the hell?" He growled, unable to hide the coins without anything but his boxers on. "I thought you said valuable coins, you liar."

The cheerful redhead shrugged and bent down to recollect her pennies. "I had to get you up somehow."

Placing them on the nightstand, she then helped him up off the floor and back onto the bed. "What if I got injured from my fall?" He asked with a grouchy face.

Looking over his bandaged waist, Flaky shook her head. "No, you're f-fine."

He made a grumbling noise and dropped his head back against the headboard. "What did you wake me so damn early for?"

Crimson eyes blinked, processing his question. "This isn't early, it's a-almost afternoon."

"It's three more hours until noon, I could've been getting some much needed shut eye during those three hours." He growled, grumpily crossing his arms.

Sitting on the bed next to him and tilting her head, Flaky examined the dark bags underneath his lidded eyes. "You really should consider c-changing your sleeping schedule. I don't t-think it does your body much good to stay up all night."

Huffing, Lifty rubbed a finger against his drooping eyes, struggling to even keep them open at the moment. "Why? I get the same amount of hours as you 'normal' people."

Flaky puffed out her cheeks cutely, resembling a squirrel. "B-but still, it's better if you get up in the morning like e-everyone else."

Not in the mood to argue about his sleeping schedule, Lifty sighed tiredly and with a roll of his eyes, pinched Flaky's inflated cheeks, effectively deflating them. "Whatever you say, princess."

She whined, tears pricking the corner of her eyes as he grinned and pulled her cheeks apart, making a forced smile on her face. "W-wet go, Wifty!"

Oh, this was fun, ignoring the small hands futile attempts at dislodging his hold, Lifty snickered and pulled harder. "What was that? I don't think I quite heard you~"

Whimpering, Flaky struggled harder, kicking her feet out weakly. "Pwease, wet go W-Wifty!"

Pleased at his tiny bit of revenge at being woken up so damn early, Lifty released her cheeks, relaxing back, grinning as he watched her rub her abused cheeks softly.

"W-what was that for?" She pouted, attempting to glare at him through watery eyes, though it only served to make her look cuter.

"Nothing. I just felt like doing it." He snickered at her frown.

"Y-you're mean." He merely shrugged in reply as she sighed and got up, mumbling a "be right back."

Soon, she came back, heaving a large suitcase with her. Seeing her struggle to lift it to the bed, Lifty reached out and helped her carry it and place it next to him.

"What is this?" He asked, tugging open the zipper without asking if he could.

Pulling it open, he eyed the piles of clothes in interest. "Did you buy all these?"

Taking in as much breath as she could, Flaky shook her head, wiping a hand against her forehead, exhausted from carrying the heavy thing. "N-no, I got them from Nutty. H-he agreed to let me b-borrow them for you, since I'm sure F-Flippy won't lend his clothes."

Lifty pulled out a shirt and held it in front of him, eyeing it in distaste. "Ugh, I can tell its the sugar freak's wardrobe alright." He mumbled, eyes traveling over the multiple colorful candy designs etched onto the bright green shirt.

Flaky smiled and dug through the clothes. "He even gave pajamas and b-boxers for you to wear."

Lifty's upper lip curled up into a sneer at the thought of wearing another man's underwear. "Why the fuck would he lend so much of his shit?"

Ignoring the cursing, Flaky picked out a candy cane covered shirt and pressed it to the front of Lifty's chest to see if it would fit. "I p-paid him in candy for his clothes."

"Ugh, he's such a fucking addict," Lifty mumbled, pushing away the candy covered shirt with a frown, he was starting to see why Shifty makes such a big deal over clothes now. "Where's my clothes?"

"I'm washing them," the redhead told him, folding up the shirt and putting it back, opting to find a shirt that isn't so..colorful.

Lifty perked up as he suddenly remembered something. "Where's my chain?"

Stopping her search, Flaky blinked owlishly up at him. "Chain?"

"Yes, my chain. A little raccoon tail that I had chained to my pants. Oh my god, don't tell me that you threw it in the washer too.." He groaned, conking his head against the headboard in frustration.

"Oh. Oh! T-the chain. I have it." Flaky piped up, only now remembering it, she dug into her pocket and pulled out a silver chain dangling a green ringed raccoon tail. "It looks like one of those bunny foot things."

Placing it into his waiting palm, Flaky watched his fingers curl around it, letting the chain wrap around his digits, Lifty hung the accessory in front of his face to check for any damages. "You could say its something like that. It's my good luck charm, Shifty has one too."

_'Too bad your good luck charm usually doesn't work_.' Flaky couldn't help but think as she watched him fondly stare at the chain before placing it safely on the nightstand next to him.

Pretending like she wasn't staring at him, Flaky resumed her search for a normal shirt. "So, where's my mask, scarf, and gloves?" He asked curiously. "Are they hidden in your skirt too?"

With a blush staining her cheeks, Flaky shook her head quickly. "N-no. I left them in my room, I'll bring them in here later."

He grunted, choosing to lay back and watch her sift through the clothes. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity of digging, Flaky made a pleased sound and held up a pure black shirt with only a single candy cane in the middle.

Holding it towards the tired crook to gauge his reaction to it, Flaky smiled. "How's this one? I-it's not too bad is it?"

He was on the edge of drifting off to sleep when Flaky abruptly shoved the shirt inches from his face, jolting him back awake. Looking it over with a critical eye, Lifty grunted and grabbed it, tugging it over his head. "I guess it's not too bad." His fingers pinched the loose fabric.

"He likes to wear his shirts a little too large though.." He mumbled, staring at how the shirt was long enough to reach just under his rear. "I want my own clothes."

"Sorry, but you'll have to wait until I finish washing yours." She told him, busy with trying to find the pants now.

"Hmm, I think you'll be pleased with h-his pants though." Pulling up a pair of black jeans, Flaky once again held the article of clothing in front of his face. "It doesn't l-look as loose as the shirt."

Lifty blinked and lifted his hand to rub the material between two of his fingers. "Not bad at all..really nice pair of pants considering its the sugar freak's...I think I might just keep this one." He mused to himself.

Flaky tilted her head questionably, not quite hearing him. "What?"

"Nothing," he grinned, snatching the pants and bent over with some struggle to pull them on. "I was just saying that I actually like this one."

Finished with the clothes, Flaky zipped up the bag and placed it onto the floor before crawling over and helping Lifty put the pants on.

After much awkward tugging and swearing, the green haired male was finally able to zip up the semi tight pants. "Fuck, it's so hard just to get on a pair of fucking pants!" He complained, not noticing the timid redhead flinching with each curse that flew out of his mouth.

"U-um, c-can you please stop s-swearing so much." She squeaked, twirling her fingers around nervously.

Lifty's narrowed eyes turned on her. "Why? You got a problem with the word _fuck_?" He smirked, deciding that teasing her would help lighten his mood a bit.

"N-no, it's j-just it's-"

"Fuck~"

"It's impolite to swe-"

"Fuck~"

"Please s-stop i-"

"Fuuuuck~"

"Stop it!"

"Oh, someone's getting angry~" He purred, getting a kick out of her cherry red face as she continually tried to get him to stop.

Her cheeks puffed out again in her irritation but remembering what he did earlier, she let it out in a deep breath. "H-how about we just watch some tv for n-now?" She suggested, hurriedly grabbing the remote and turning on the tv to some game show.

Settling down next to him, Flaky smiled when he silenced and instead turned his attention to the entertainment on the screen.

A couple minutes passed and Lifty quickly found himself bored when he figured out that the whole thing was scripted and every participant was such terrible actors. His eyes shifted to the redhead who was contently watching the tv next to him, without a care in the world that the man who was known to have a bad reputation was sitting right next to her.

And for some reason it bothered him that she could be so careless with her trust.

"Aren't you scared?" He asked, breaking her gaze off the tv to him.

"Huh?"

"Aren't you cautious about who you let into your house?" He continued quietly, his expression unreadable.

"W-what do you m-mean?" She asked, cocking her head to the side.

"I mean, look at you. You let in a man who is a known criminal, takes care of him, and even sits next to him in a small room carelessly leaving yourself vulnerable to him." Flaky was starting to get nervous with the way those emerald orbs burned into her, she couldn't understand why he had such a sudden switch in emotions like that.

"L-Lifty, w-what are y- ah!" In a speed faster than his injuries should allow, Flaky suddenly found herself pinned beneath the green haired man, his much larger body completely covered her own, arms laid firmly on either side of her head, effectively blocking her in.

"L-Lifty," she stammered, as nimble fingers curled onto the back of her head, tugging on the red locks and tilting her head back to give him access to her slender neck.

He lowered his head down and bit gently at a patch of skin, drawing a startled squeak from the trapped woman. "What if I was a rapist and I was waiting until now to finally take this chance to have my way with you?"

He licked along the pale skin, as his other hand wormed under her shirt to slide along the smooth skin of her abdomen. "L-Lifty..I-I know, you wouldn't d-do that." She stammered beneath him.

Irritated at her trusting nature, Lifty ground his hips roughly against hers, gaining a satisfying gasp in return. "And how would you know that? You can't just assume things of people Flaky, not everybody is a goody two shoe like the war vet. I could fuck you right now and you wouldn't be able to do a thing about it."

Flaky whimpered and carefully laid her hands on his shoulders. "I-I know you w-won't do it Lifty." She stubbornly replied.

He snarled and tugged on her hair roughly, hovering his face over hers, his heated breath blew over her burning face. "You don't know that."

She gulped audibly and stared him straight in the eyes with as much courage as she could muster. "I-I know you aren't l-like that at all, I've seen w-when you and your brother r-robs a place and there are women, you never once t-touch them even when you have the chance too."

Lifty frowned, his grip loosening on her hair slightly.

Well, damn.

"Besides," Flaky giggled quietly. "I doubt you'll be able to e-exert your body for such s-strenuous activities. I can see you struggling just to hold y-yourself up r-right now."

He groaned and let go of his grip on her hair, dropping his head down lazily next to hers. Flaky could feel his stomach rumbling against hers and had to bite her lip to contain her laughter.

"And y-you haven't eaten b-breakfast yet."

"Oh, shut it." Lifty mumbled, feeling his cheeks heat up in embarrassment as he rolled off of her slowly.

She sat up casually, acting almost like he never pinned her down and tried to scare her. "I'll g-go make breakfast for u-us."

She made her away around the bed and to the door, feeling his eyes on her the whole way. She paused when he finally spoke up. "Still," he started, she turned her head towards him. "You should be careful with who you trust."

Casting him an assuring smile, Flaky nodded. "Don't w-worry, I'll be sure to b-be more careful."

**xXx**

**Blaaah~ Don't really have much to say, except I finally updated. (Well, I had to update otherwise AmI would bitch me out. xD)**

**Anyways, thanks for reading! :D**


	6. Disciplining a Thief

**Warning for Lifty's mouth. Again. Oh and randomness. **

**xXx**

Having eaten, satisfying his stomach and being somewhat awake now, Lifty was now able to think back clearly on his actions not that long ago.

And he was beginning to regret them.

What was he thinking?

Now he had to worry about whether or not Flaky would be snitching on him to the soldier boy about being pinned down by the thief.

He could hear the water running in the kitchen as Flaky cleaned their dishes, when a knocking came on the front door making Lifty stiffen up wondering if maybe it was the war vet.

The squeaking of a handle being turned was heard as the running water trickled to a stop, quickly followed by the soft patting of footsteps hurrying to the door. A couple minutes later, Flaky reentered the room, Flippy right behind her.

He smirked at the injured thief who's eyes automatically narrowed into a glare at the visitor. "How are you? Better?" He asked with an overly sugar coated tone, showing that he could care less.

The corner of Lifty's lips lifted up into a suggestive smirk. "Why yes I am. Flaky has taken _very_ good care of me."

Flippy's face dropped into a frown at the implication that the crook was suggesting. "I hope you haven't tried anything.."

"Oh!" Flaky squeaked, drawing Flippy's attention and causing Lifty to tense, worrying if she was going to tell the camouflaged male what happened. "N-nothing happened Flippy. Lifty's been v-very good aside from the s-swearing."

Lifty let out a breath that he hadn't realized that he's been holding, shoulders slumping down heavily in relief. Suddenly, Flippy turned towards him with a toothy grin showing off his canines, the injured man's eyes widened feeling a chill shoot up his spine to raise goosebumps on the back of his neck. "You've been swearing huh?" His emerald eyes glinted maliciously. "Well, looks like we'll have to do something about that."

"F-Flippy?" Flaky asked nervously as her friend spun around to leave.

His cunning grin instantly changed into a sweet smile as he ran a hand through her long hair. "Don't worry, I'll be right back," at her worried look, he chuckled. "And no I'm not going to hurt him."

Lifty shifted uncomfortably as he watched the vet leave the room in a brisk walk, he and Flaky both exchanged worried and confused glances as the water was heard running in the kitchen for a second before loud thudding of boots hitting the wood floor swiftly made its way back to the room, revealing the grinning soldier holding a wet bar of soap in his hand. "I think it's time we clean out that filthy mouth of yours thief."

The only word that registered in Lifty's mind was the name call which he instantly grew irritated at, his mouth spitting out words before he could think about it. "I have a name you dumbfu-"

He was cut off by Flippy darting forward and fisting the forest green strands in his hand, forced Lifty's head back as the other hand shoved the bar of soap right into the conveniently open mouth, scrubbing it onto his tongue, filling his mouth with suds. "Such a dirty mouth, I'll make sure to scrub it clean so Flaky doesn't have to deal with it." He chuckled cheerfully.

Flaky could only stare with wide eyes, small hands covering her parted lips as her friend viciously forced the bar into her struggling guest's mouth. His hands circling around the soldier's wrists attempting in vain to pull it away as his feet frantically kicked at the mattress, suds beginning to trail down the corner of his mouth.

She could hear him choking on the suds dripping into his throat and Flaky decided that she had to intervene before her guest became more injured than he already was. "F-Flippy stop it!" She had run forward and grasped the arm that held the soap, making him pause in his scrubbing.

"Y-you're going to injure him further if you continue." She stammered as Flippy looked back at her with a smile.

"He'll be fine Flakes. I'm just teaching him a lesson." He laughed, turning back to the task at hand until Flaky's hands tightened around his arm, forcing him to stop again.

"I-I don't mind the swearing. S-so you can just stop, o-ok?" She could see Lifty having to breathe through his nose and was beginning to worry that he might end up fainting.

Flippy frowned at his fun ending so soon. "But it's rude for him to be swearing in front of a lady.."

She tugged lightly on his arm. "It's ok Flippy, really, so just s-stop please."

He sighed in disappointment, but nonetheless pulled his arm back and took out the soap that was now half gone. Flaky eyed the bar, making a mental note to throw that away; she certainly isn't going to be washing any dishes with that saliva covered thing.

Finally being free from his torture, Lifty leaned forward and spit out the suds coating his mouth straight onto Flippy's boots. Flippy looked down at his clean boots now covered in the soap, one emerald eye began twitching as he sent the thief a strained smile. "So, what did you learn?"

With a rebellious glare, Lifty hacked up more of the suds and spit them on Flippy's face, wiping the corner of his mouth afterwards. "That you're a fucking asshole."

An ominous air filled the room as the soapy spit dribbled down Flippy's face.

This time Flaky couldn't save Lifty as Flippy practically shoved the rest of the bar down his throat, brutally scrubbing his mouth until the soap had all but dissolved into a bunch of bubbly suds.

Well, atleast she didn't have to worry about throwing away the soap now.

**xXx**

"Here," Flaky handed a large glass of water to Lifty placing a bucket in front of him to spit out the soap in. Flippy had left earlier to go on a walk, hoping to cool his head before he ended up flipping out and murdering the injured male and his friend.

Lifty accepted the cup, taking a large sip, he swished the water in his mouth for a few seconds before spitting it out into the bucket, he repeated this a couple more times until all the soap was gone.

"I-I'm sorry, I didn't know that he would do that." Flaky apologized, guilt filling her eyes as she watched him stick his fingers in his mouth to scratch out any lingering soap that was stuck to his teeth.

"It's ok," he muttered around his fingers, removing them to spit in the bucket. "It's his fault, he didn't have to go in for a second round and make me practically eat the fucking thing."

Yes, he's still swearing, soap or not, he's not gonna stop.

"Well, to be honest," Flaky responded, twiddling her fingers nervously. "Y-you shouldn't have egged him on then."

The man still cleaning his mouth chuckled. "He deserved it. Self righteous prick."

Flaky sent him a disapproving look. "Lifty.."

Seeing her stare, Lifty sighed and spit out the last of the soap pieces. "Fine. I'll _try_ to control my mouth around the asshole. No promises though." He added when he saw her smile.

Figuring that was the most she was gonna get out of him, Flaky giggled and grabbed the bucket to go clean it out. "Okay, just try not to agitate him when he comes back."

Lifty nodded and took a sip of the water. "Like I said; no promises."

**xXx**

This time when Flippy came back, Lifty was watching the tv with bored eyes, Flaky at his side was watching with wide eyed interest. He seriously didn't understand what she saw in these stupid game shows.

Flippy didn't saying anything; instead he was staring at the way that Flaky was sitting so comfortably close to the thief with a content look as they watched the tv. Though Lifty spotted him, Flaky had yet to notice her friend's presence.

He could have sworn he saw a bit of jealous in those emerald eyes and with a mischievous smirk, Lifty decided to scoot closer to his caretaker, much to Flippy's irritation.

His narrowed eyes drifted off to the side to spot Lifty's chain, curiosity leaked into the emerald orbs and before Lifty could even reach out for his chain, Flippy had beaten him to it, snatching it off the nightstand and holding it in front of him.

"What's this?" He wondered aloud, getting Flaky to finally notice his presence with a smile.

"That's mine!" Lifty growled, reaching up for it, only for Flippy to pull it away with a smirk.

"Oh? It's yours?" Flippy teasingly dangled it inches away from Lifty's reaching hand.

"Yes! Give it back!" He shouted, straining his arm as far as it could go. He swears if that fucking soldier were to break it..

Flippy held it up, twirling the chain as he examined the accessory. "Hmm, a raccoon tail, huh? Quite fitting for a criminal to have the tail of the animal kingdoms thief."

Seeing the devastated look of her guest as Flippy began to swing the chain around his finger, Flaky decided it was time to make him stop, pushing Lifty back so he wasn't hanging off the bed trying to reach for his chain, the redhead got off the bed and held her hand out to her friend with what she hoped was a stern gaze. "S-stop bullying him Flippy and g-give me the chain."

The war vet deflated and reluctantly handed the chain over with a pout. "I wasn't bullying him Flakes, I was just asking about the chain."

She gave the chain to Lifty who decided to keep it safe by tying it to the pants he was currently wearing. "B-but he didn't l-like how you were handling it Flippy."

Scratching the back of his head, Flippy sighed. "Fine. Sorry Flakes."

She nodded and moved to sit back down onto the bed, seeing that the commercial break was over and the game show was back on.

Brushing off his jacket, Flippy cleared his throat remembering what he originally came back for. "Anyways, thie- I mean Lifty," the man in question looked up with a glare. "For Flaky's sake I decided that I owe you an apology for scrubbing your mouth out with soap. So, I'm sorry, I am however, not sorry for the second time I put the soap in your mouth. You deserved that one."

Lifty scoffed, finishing tying his chain and deciding to hide the raccoon tail in his pocket. "Whatever, ya fucking jackass." Flaky stiffened once she heard his words. Didn't he listen to a word she said earlier?!

Flippy's expression darkened as his lips twitched up into a false smile. "...I thought you might say something like that. I think it's time I teach you a lesson again, you little disrespectful rat."

His hand reached into his pocket. "I picked these up on my walk. I figured that since soap didn't work, then maybe burning your mouth might." His hand came back out showing Lifty a bunch of small chili peppers.

"From what the owner that grew these told me. These are one of the hottest chili peppers, perfect to use as discipline."

The foul mouthed thief didn't seem to believe him as he crossed his arms and sent the soldier a cocky smirk. "Pfft, he probably lied to your dumbass." He spat out, ignoring Flaky waving her arms in front of her, trying to warn him not to test Flippy's temper.

Flippy clenched his hands into a fist, accidentally crushing some of the peppers. "Well, we'll just have to find out if that's true, hmm?"

And with that Flippy waited until Lifty opened his mouth with a retort to toss one of the crushed peppers in his mouth, the inside of the fruit having been opened, leaked onto his vulnerable tongue, letting the burning taste settle there.

At first Lifty merely sat there with his mouth hanging open, not yet registering the heat from the fruit on his tongue. Taking advantage of his frozen state, Flippy popped another crushed chili into his mouth with a smile and happily pushed Lifty's jaw up to close his mouth around the burning fruit.

Agh! His tongue felt like it was on fire as he choked and attempted to spit out the flaming fruit, but Flippy had firmly clamped a hand on his mouth, refusing to let him spit out the hot pepper. The burning began to get excruciating the longer it lingered and was jostled around his mouth, the heat spreading from his tongue to the roof of his mouth to travel down to his throat, making tears appear at the edge of his eyes despite his best attempts to not cry.

It took the combined efforts of both Lifty and Flaky to finally make Flippy move his hand so the pained crook could spit the hot fruit onto the ground, his hands frantically fanning his hanging tongue in a sad attempt to get it to cool down.

Flaky had run out of the room to fetch a glass of milk while Flippy stayed behind to smirk smugly at the thief who was trying extremely hard to keep the tears at bay. "Ha, it looks like it was true about the peppers being the hottest. So, have you learned your lesson yet?"

Going against his better judgement, Lifty glared angrily at the war vet through watery eyes and gathering as much saliva in his dry mouth as he can, spit it on the combat boots in front of him again. "Fuck you, I learned that you're a sadistic faggot." The room seemed to once again darken ominously as the men locked onto each others narrowed eyes.

When she finally returned with the glass of milk, Flaky was horrified to find her friend choking her guest with one hand while simultaneously dropping the rest of the chili peppers into his gaping mouth with the other.

She has now learned to never leave Flippy alone in the same room as Lifty.

**xXx**

**Hehe, I'm quite enjoying temperamental Flippy, after all, you should never disrespect a soldier or the lady he fancies. :p**

**Anyways, thanks for reading! :D**


	7. More Teasing and Indirect Kisses

**Warning for…not much really, I guess language and probably Lifty abuse. :p**

**xXx**

It's been a few days since the chili peppers incident and Flippy has been over almost everyday. And much to Flaky's growing stress, each of those visits consisted of Flippy punishing Lifty for his foul mouth.

And some of those punishments can be somewhat creative that Flaky was able to draw a comparison from Flippy's unique punishments and Fliqpy's unique kills. Seems that's the only similarity that the soldier and his psychotic persona will share.

Those punishments included trying to get Lifty to eat an extremely large cockroach, squirting a bottle of shampoo into the thief's mouth. Scrubbing his tongue with sandpaper, pouring months old expired milk down his throat, followed by tabasco sauce. He even attempted to staple Lifty's mouth shut at one point forcing Flaky to have to take desperate measures and do what she usually doesn't do; gathering all the strength she could in her leg - Flaky kicked the smirking soldier right on the ass, sending him falling forward to lay sprawled across the relieved thief's lap, the stapler missing its intended target and instead hooked a staple into the bed sheet.

She ended up having to snatch the stapler and hiding it somewhere where Flippy wouldn't find it as he crossed his arms and pouted like a child who had his fun ruined.

Who knew her sweet and adorable friend could be such a troublemaker?

Currently, Flaky was now with Lifty in the bathroom. He was situated on the sink's counter as Flaky wet a cloth under a stream of warm water.

"I really need to t-talk to him about this whole punishing business. It's starting to become d-dangerous now." She sighed, squeezing the cloth out and pressing it to Lifty's superglued lips - the work of a certain soldier who lost his temper after Lifty called him a 'fucking faggot' for talking to Flaky about the cute penguin doll that he saw earlier.

Lifty nodded eagerly, mumbling something from behind his tightly closed lips.

Sliding the cloth along the length of his lips, Flaky's eyes narrowed as she frowned at the abused thief. "And it's partially y-your fault too, Lifty. I told you to stop a-aggravating him." She scolded, taking away the cloth to run it under the water again.

Lifty rolled his eyes when she turned away and grumbled something behind his glued lips.

"I m-mean it Lifty or else I'll just let Flippy keep punishing you." He made an agreeing sound, waving his hand to say 'yeah, yeah' as she turned back to smooth the now steaming towel along his mouth.

It took a long while to get the superglue to wear off and Flaky was beginning to wonder if the hot water was helping at all. But gradually, a corner of Lifty's mouth loosened much to her relief, she stuck some of the towel in the small opening and moved it around, hoping to separate the rest of his lips.

Eventually, after a couple more times of soaking the towel in hot water, Flaky was able to completely part the thief's lips. He immediately grinned at the freedom as she turned to switch off the sink.

Moving back between his parted legs, Flaky examined his lips to make sure they were okay. She wasn't sure if the superglue might've torn any flesh.

She never noticed the mischievous look in his green eyes as she reached a finger to curiously poke at his lips to see if there were any leftover glue crusted on. Suddenly, those lips were wrapped around more than half of her finger, his arms came up to rest lazily on her shoulders, long legs wrapping around her waist and tugging her forward till her bottom half was pressed against the sink's counter.

His tongue swirled playfully around her finger and Flaky's porcelain colored skin instantly changed to resemble a tomato much to his amusement.

He enjoyed messing with her everytime she helps him with something. Call him ungrateful, but he couldn't help himself, it was entertaining and much better than saying a dreaded thank you.

Besides, he will admit that she was extremely cute, making it all the more fun to tease her. And it was pretty interesting to see how fast her face can change from creamy white to a flaming red.

He was sucking lightly around the digit when she tugged it out of his mouth with a quiet pop. Worming her way out of his arms, Flaky went to the sink and proceeded to wash his saliva off her finger, her long hair draping around her face like a curtain and blocking that lovely blush from his view.

"D-do you have to do t-that everytime I help you?" She mumbled, twisting the knob shut, cutting off the water.

"Yes." He answered without hesitation. Grinning when she tossed the wet cloth at his face before leaving the room.

Hopping off the counter, Lifty followed her. Yes, he's able to walk on his own now, but he still had some trouble and had to hold onto the wall to guide him as he silently followed the redhead to the kitchen.

She stopped in front of the stove and lifted a hand to tap her chin thoughtfully, contemplating on what she should make for dinner, especially since Flippy said he'll be back once he gets off work. Spinning around to go dig in the fridge, Flaky squeaked when she bumped into a solid chest.

The first thing to greet her eyes were the words 'Suck My Lollipop Bitch' labeled colorfully on top of the green shirt that the thief was currently sporting - it still puzzled her on why the childish sugar addict would have that kind of shirt, she wondered if he even got the innuendo. He probably just got it for the pictures of lollipops on it.

But Lifty happened to love it when he found it, cracking up before pulling it on, saying something about how he'll be keeping that one.

"C-can't you make atleast a l-little bit of noise to let me know when you're in the room?" Flaky asked, stepping around his grinning form to pull open the fridge and begin rummaging around.

Did she forget to mention that he had a habit of sneaking up on her now that he was able to walk? The first time he had snuck up on her and merely whispered 'boo' in her ears ended up with him scaring the living daylights out of the poor girl. She had screamed so loud that he had to plug his ears before he went deaf, then she fainted much to his confusion and slight amusement. It was almost hilarious how easy it was to scare the timid girl.

Placing one hand on the fridge above her head, Lifty leered at her bent over form before bending over himself, pressing his front against her backside as he duck his head inside of the fridge too, ignoring the startled squeak that popped out of her mouth. Her burning face slowly turned to see his grinning face that was right next to hers.

She swore that his face was steadily getting closer to hers with each passing second and gulped, letting her eyes drift close to brace herself for whatever he planned to do.

But he instead reached his hand inside and wrapped his fingers around the string cheese to snack on. Getting what he wanted, Lifty pulled away from the redhead and the fridge, backing away until he was leaning against the counter behind him. Tearing open the package of string cheese, Lifty enjoyed the view before him as he snacked.

Feeling the warmth of his body disappear, Flaky fluttered her eyes open, remaining in the same position as she just stared at the chicken in front of her in confusion. Why in the world does Lifty insist on invading her space like this? Does he enjoy seeing her flustered and confused all the time?

Letting the soothing air of the fridge cool her burning face down, Flaky reached forward and grabbed the chicken, deciding what she was going to make for dinner. Turning around and placing the chicken onto the counter while trying to ignore the fact that Lifty was openly staring at her, Flaky turned back to the fridge to pull out a couple bags of vegetables.

Taking out a cutting board and beginning to cut the carrots, Flaky glanced at her guest who was still watching her as he leisurely ate the cheese. "Instead of just w-watching me, would you like to help m-me make our dinner?"

"Mmm...no." Well, he obviously didn't think hard on that decision.

"You sure? It would b-be a lot more faster with two people.."

"Naw." He stuck a piece of cheese in his mouth as he walked off nonchalantly to go watch tv while she cooked.

Flaky sighed, beginning to chop the carrot with a bit more force than she intended. If he was going to be staying with her than they were going to have to work on his selfish attitude.

She contemplated on whether or not she should ask Flippy to help her with that.

Scooping up the chopped carrot pieces, Flaky placed them in a large bowl as she ultimately decided that she should just do that on her own instead of enlisting Flippy's help.

After all, if she asked him to help than she might end up having to be stuck in cleaning up whatever mess he made in trying to 'help' Lifty.

**xXx**

The delicious smell of food cooking reached Lifty's nostrils as he eagerly sniffed the air, licking his lips hungrily. At that exact moment a knock came from the front door.

"Lifty, can you get that, please?" Flaky asked, reluctant to leave the food that was almost finished.

He sighed heavily and lazily stood up from the couch. "Fine."

Pulling open the door, Lifty gave a strained grin to the man on the other side. "Hey there soldier boy." He greeted, almost laughing at the way Flippy's smiling visage disappeared as soon as he realized who answered the door.

"Oh..it's the thief...hi." Flippy muttered dully, taking a step inside.

Lifty's eye twitched, tempted to spit out an obscenity but held back in fear of getting his mouth glued shut again when it was so close to dinner. "Nice to see you could make it." Lifty patted his back before closing the door and walking back to the couch.

"Lifty," he froze, feeling Flippy's eyes burning into his back. "Give me back my credit card." The soldier deadpanned, holding his hand out.

The thief's shoulders slouched as he dug into his newly retained gloves and pulled out the card in question. He bit his lip, hesitating in giving the card back.

He can't stand giving back stuff that he stole. If he got his hands on it, than that means it was his now.

But Flippy wasn't having that as he moved forward and ripped the card from Lifty's grasp, choosing to safely tuck it into his combat boots instead of his pocket.

"It seems that being bedridden for the past couple days has made your thieving skills slip." Flippy chuckled, sending the now grouchy thief a mocking look before heading to the kitchen.

Lifty growled and lifted up his hand to make a very rude gesture to Flippy's departing back.

"I saw that! Don't make me go back there to break your finger!" Flippy threatened as he turned into the kitchen, drawing an incredulous gasp from Flaky.

"F-Flippy!" She scolded.

He chuckled. "Sorry Flakes."

Lifty was left to cross his arms with a pout, collapsing back on the couch to glower at the floor.

He is _not_ slipping up on his stealing.

**xXx**

Lifty watched from the couch as Flippy - being the goody two shoed faggot that he is - helped Flaky bring the bowls of chicken stew to the living room table. He sneered when he noticed that Flippy was carrying his bowl to the table, the soldier slammed his bowl onto the table and Lifty's green eye began twitching in disgust once he noticed that Flippy's thumb was buried deep in his soup when he carried his bowl.

The green haired soldier pulled his hand away and sent the thief a smirk as he licked up the soup that got on his thumb. "Your dinners ready, Lifty."

Flaky smiled, oblivious to the insulting action that her friend just did; took her seat next to where Lifty would be. "Thanks for helping me bring out the food, Flippy."

"Anything for you Flaky." He responded playfully, gaining a blush from her as he took a seat on her other side.

"Ugh, why don't you guys just get a room already." Lifty grumbled, holding back a gag as he sat in his seat, looking down at his food with a grossed out expression. Who knows where that soldier's hands have been..

He was severely tempted to say he wasn't hungry and toss out his food if it wasn't for his rumbling stomach and the fact that Flaky was staring at him patiently with a smile, wanting to see his reaction to her food. Swirling the food around with his spoon and holding in a shiver of disgust at the idea that there may be all kinds of germs now swimming around in his delicious smelling food - Lifty lifted a spoonful of the soup that held a piece of chicken on it.

He chewed thoughtfully, focusing on the taste of the chicken and tomato soup on his tongue and not the fact that another man's thumb was in it. He swallowed and turned to meet Flaky's expectant gaze with a light blush. "It's...good." He muttered, not used to giving out compliments.

Flaky's smile dropped slightly at his simple response but was still happy that he atleast liked it. "I'm glad you think it's g-good." She giggled, touching his arm lightly before taking a bite of her own food.

"Well, I think it's absolutely delicious!" Flippy piped up from her other side. "I swear Flaky, you could be a chef."

For some reason it got on Lifty's nerve the way that Flaky's cheeks darkened at the compliment, she fumbled with the spoon in her flustered state. "O-oh, thank you F-Flippy. I-I'm flattered that y-you think that." She stammered, dipping her spoon daintily into the stew.

Flippy grinned, proud that he was able to get her so flustered. "Of course Flakes, 'cause its true, you've got a talent for cooking."

Lifty rolled his eyes in annoyance that his small compliment was completely overshadowed by Flippy's over exaggerated one. God, soldier boy was such a fucking suck up...

Fishing up a carrot, Lifty grinned slyly, thinking that he should get a bit of revenge for the whole thumb in stew thing. Scooting his chair over, Lifty wrapped an arm around Flaky's shoulder and tugged her closer to him.

She blinked up at him questionably when he pressed his spoon to her mouth. "I don't like the carrots, so you can have them." He offered, pressing the tip of the spoon further against her closed lips.

"O-ok." She agreed with a blush, parting her lips slightly and letting him push his spoon into her mouth for her to take the carrot.

An emerald eye twitched as Flippy watched the thief spoon feeding his friend, realizing with disgust that they had just shared an indirect kiss. Fishing out another carrot, Lifty slipped the spoon back in her mouth all while sending Flippy a smug smirk.

Flippy couldn't take it after a couple minutes of Lifty feeding her like he was her boyfriend. "I think that's enough, I'm sure you're out of carrots by now." He growled, hand tightening around the spoon and feeling it bend slightly to his strength.

Lifty snickered, keeping his arm draped around Flaky. "I'm sure that I have a few more carrots," he swished the spoon around, trying to find more, frowning when all that floated up was chicken and potatoes. "..or not."

Flippy smiled and grabbed Lifty's wrist, lifting his arm off her shoulder and flinging it back to its owner. "That means you can keep your hand to yourself now."

Lifty scowled at the annoying visitor and took a sip of his stew. "Whatever."

His eyes brightened again with another idea when he saw the blushing Flaky lift up her spoon that was holding a potato on it. Before it could reach her mouth, Lifty darted down and latched his lips around her spoon, using his teeth to lead the potato into his mouth.

He looked up at her blushing face with a smirk, chewing the food and swallowing before talking. "I like potatoes."

Flaky giggled. "Oh, well then, you're more than w-welcome to have another." She offered him another spoonful of potatoes, causing Lifty to smirk seeing his plan was working with the way that Flippy's eye was twitching erratically along with his spoon being bent even further back.

"Don't mind if I do~" Lifty held his mouth open, waiting for her to put the spoon in his mouth.

He nearly choked when the spoon was jabbed harshly in his mouth, almost hitting the back of his throat. His eyes snapped open in horror to see Flippy - who was leaning over Flaky - just a few feet away with _his_ spoon inside Lifty's mouth.

"Since we're sharing food, you can have mine." Flippy grinned, a visible vein throbbing in his forehead at the stress that Lifty was constantly causing for him.

The now thoroughly disgusted crook's face was green, looking like he would vomit any second as he pulled away from the spoon and faced his own bowl. "...I'll just eat my own food now.." He muttered, shoveling his food in his mouth to hopefully wash down whatever germs and spit was on the soldier's spoon.

Flaky just continued eating with a carefree smile, completely unaware of the growing tension between the two males. She was just happy that no one was trying to kill each other at the dinner table like she was worried would happen.

They all ate in peaceful silence. Well, peaceful for Flaky. The two testosterone filled guys beside her were eating while occasionally sending each other death glares from over her head.

"Ah," Flippy sighed, relaxing back in his chair once he finished, patting his belly. "I'm full. Thank you for the delicious dinner Flakes."

"Y-your welcome, I'm just glad that you e-enjoyed it." Flaky smiled at him, twirling her spoon around.

"No problem. I just wanted to let you know that atleast_ I_ appreciate your hard work in making this food." Flippy looked pointedly at the other male with a smug smirk, knowing that the thief has a hard time giving out any type of praise or compliment.

Lifty frowned, so soldier boy still wants to be an asshole, huh? He looked at the smiling redhead and grinned. Well, two can play that game.

"Hey Flaky." He called, turning in his chair so that he faced her.

She looked up at him with her little smile. "Hmm?"

"You've got a bit of soup right here," he told her, pointing at the corner of his lip.

"Huh?" Flaky blinked and lifted a hand to wipe it away but Lifty wrapped his fingers around her wrist to stop her.

He lowered his head down to hers, voice taking on a more seductive edge to it. "Allow me to get it for you." He whispered, leaning forward and letting his tongue slip out to slide languidly along the corner of her mouth, catching the left over stew.

He pulled back, his sultry gaze penetrating into her own shocked ones as he sensually licked his lips before letting his tongue disappear behind his lips. "Mmm, now that was good~"

Her petrified form suddenly gained back its movement as she literally jumped in her seat, hand coming up to embarrassedly hide the spot he licked. He felt proud when he noticed her face turn the darkest shade of red he's managed to get so far as she tried to stutter out a reply, only accomplishing in getting out incoherent garbled sentences.

But he just felt plain _victorious_ when he noticed Flippy's visibly trembling form and the tenseness in his jaw, along with the spoon that was now bent completely in half.

"What's the matter Flippy? You mad?" He swears his mouth has a mind of its own.

And with the dark glare that Flippy was sending him – Lifty was sure his mouth will probably get him killed one day.

**xXx**

**I'm…having too much fun letting Lifty fuck with Flippy by messing with Flaky. xD**

**Anyways, thanks for reading! :D (Psst, AmI! I'm so tempted to steal your new A/N style. xD)**


	8. Flaky Thinks About Flippy Too Much

**Warning for…not much, slight language maybe?**

**xXx**

It would seem that Flippy's comment about Lifty's stealing skills had struck a chord with the thief and motivated him in constantly practicing in trying to see if he really has slipped up.

And since Flaky is the only person he's been having contact with - she's been the unfortunate guinea pig or target of his thefts, even though he really had nowhere to use or hide the things he steals which ends up with him reluctantly returning it in the end.

He's already stolen the remote from her lap when she wasn't looking numerous times, flipping the channel without her permission and having to listen to her whine until he eventually gave up and switched it back. He even stole menial things like all her white hair clips from her hair - how he was able to figure out what was a dandruff flake and what was a hair clip is beyond her but he still managed to steal all her hair clips without her notice.

He's even took her spoon or forks when she wasn't looking, ending up with him having to return it when she would pout cutely at him with puppy dog eyes. The most annoying is when he would take her wallet before she left for work or the store - it's quite irritating and embarrassing to scan everything you have only to find out that you can't pay for it..

Flaky sighed, brushing her hair behind her ear as she walked the short distance from the store to her home after not being able to buy the chocolate bar that she was craving, disappointedly finding out that she was missing a very important item that would help her in acquiring the delicious candy.

If Lifty keeps this up, then she isn't going to buy anymore string cheese or any other junk food that he adores.

She arrived back home and walked past the thief watching tv to her room, ignoring the fact that she could feel his eyes automatically switch from the tv to her; she's gotten used to him stare at her back after the weeks he's stayed with her. Dropping her bag onto her bed, Flaky took a glance around...and noticed quite a few things missing.

In fact, make that everything that was on her dresser was missing.

"Lifty!" She called, stomping out of the room and to the green haired thief who stared at her through heavy lidded eyes.

"Yes?" He asked with a lazy smirk, still slouching back against the couch despite his hostess's irritated face.

"W-where is my wallet and everything o-on my dresser?" She crossed her arms across her chest and sent him a glare that looked more like an adorable pout.

"How do you know if it's me? Maybe you just misplaced everything..it wouldn't be the first time." He chuckled, shrugging his shoulders and turning his attention back to the tv.

"I-I know it's you - you've been stealing stuff for the past week." It's ridiculous the amount of stuff that he's been stealing, he's even stolen her pads at one point; then gave it back when he couldn't figure out what they were for.

"Not. It's not my fault if things just magically appeared in my room." He mumbled, though the grin on his face told it all.

"Lifty," Flaky started in a surprisingly stern voice. "Give me back my things or else you're not having dinner tonight."

His lips stayed upturned but his eyes narrowed dangerously as he replied, "You wouldn't dare."

Despite her natural nervousness telling her to look away and give up, Flaky kept her gaze locked with his, trembling hands stayed firmly at her sides. "I-I would dare."

The look on his face said it all - he didn't believe her. "Yeah right."

Flaky gulped, feeling her confidence crumble the longer they stared each other down. "I-I'll call F-Flippy over for dinner again. H-he'll make sure you d-don't eat dinner."

At the mention of the soldier, Lifty's grinning face instantly disappeared into a glowering scowl.

"Fine." He growled, moving to push up from the comfortable couch, still having some trouble pulling himself up; he held onto the back of the couch to steady himself.

Flaky instantly moved forward to hold onto his arm and help him - which he surprisingly let her without resistance, when she tried to help him up last time, he had brushed her off.

Standing upright with the redhead still hanging onto his arm, Lifty used his free hand to reach into his back pocket and pulled out her wallet, handing it to her.

"Thank you." She smiled, accepting the stolen item.

He knocked the side of her head lightly with his knuckles. "You don't thank someone for stealing your stuff." He reprimanded, heading off to his room with her right on his tail.

Flaky raised an eyebrow as she read the back of the shirt he was currently wearing which read: 'You Know You Want To Stick Your Lollipop In This Ass' with a picture of a lollipop pointing down to his rear. She coughed to cover up her giggle, who knew Nutty would have so many of these inappropriate shirts; she wondered if Lifty even knew what the back of the shirt he was wearing contained.

Oh well, she followed him into his room and followed his finger to where it was pointing underneath his bed. "It's all under there."

She looked questionably from the bed to him. "Are you going to get it?"

"You really expect me to bend down?" He frowned, cocking a brow at her and touched a hand to his abdomen, reminding her of his still healing injuries.

She sighed and got down on her knees, bending over to slide her front underneath, reaching out to gather all her things scattered around underneath. He probably dropped them under the bed on purpose just to drive her nuts.

Lifty smirked, leering openly at her bottom sticking out from the bed, wiggling teasingly as she moved around to grab each spread out item. He took a step back, tilting his head to get an easier peek just beneath her short skirt to catch more creamy skin for his prying eyes.

A pink tongue slipped out to slide along his lip as he continued to watch. She is sincerely lucky that he isn't a rapist with how easy she was unknowingly making it for him.

Finally, after a few long minutes with Lifty's gaze never once wavering, Flaky finally popped out with all her things in her arms and stood up to go back to her room. Reaching her dresser, the redhead let her things spill out of her arms to lay messily on the wood; reminding herself to lock her room when she leaves Lifty home alone.

Leaving the room, she found the thief once again comfortably settled against the couch and watching tv. Deciding to relax herself before she started dinner, Flaky made her way to the couch and plopped down next to him.

"Flaky," he asked after a couple minutes of silence. "Have you seen my brother anywhere when you go out?"

Brushing all her hair to lay over on one shoulder, she lifted a finger to curl a few strands around her finger. "Uhm..n-no, I haven't. S-sorry." She was thankful that his eyes stayed glued to the tv otherwise he would see that she was lying.

"No. It's okay, I was just wondering." He let out a heavy breath, a hand coming up to brush his forest colored bangs out of his face, eyes taking on a thoughtful look.

Nibbling on her lip and seeing the stressed look on his face; Flaky almost felt bad for lying about Shifty and the fact that she has seen him around, only doing simple pick pocketing instead of the big kind of robberies seeing as he didn't have his right hand man to do the heavy grunt work for him. She couldn't tell Lifty about seeing his twin - not after witnessing what Shifty did to him that first day he was injured.

She remembered it like it was yesterday, hiding behind a tree, watching as the older twin grabbed the pipe sticking out of his brother and with a sadistic smirk, played with it carelessly, practically relishing the agony written over the face so identical to his.

No.

She couldn't let Lifty return to Shifty to get abused like that again.

Atleast for now she could keep him safe and provide him with a comfortable home. When he gets better, it'll be entirely up to him whether or not he wants to stay with her or go back to his brother. She wouldn't be able to stop him then.

But for now, she wants to keep Shifty away while she can. If he could care less about a pipe sticking out of his brother, who knows how he would treat him while he was still healing? She feared that he would probably drag the still healing thief to go do a robbery that would undo all the healing he's done - or worse get him killed.

While she was lost in her thoughts, she never noticed the green eyes sliding over to eye something on her neck that he's never seen until now.

She squeaked when she suddenly felt his head nuzzled against her, arms wrapping around her shoulders to pull her close, his hands touched her neck delicately, his nose brushing against the skin of her throat. "L-Lifty?"

"Don't worry, I just want a hug." His hot breath hit her flesh, drawing a shiver up her spine.

After a couple seconds, he abruptly pulled back and turned back to watch tv like nothing happened.

The deep blush on her cheeks subsided as she stared at the strange man quizzically, wondering what the hell that was about. It was then that she noticed the familiar weight around her neck was missing.

She gasped, pulling out the front of her sweater to look inside it with panic induced eyes. "L-Lifty," she called, grabbing her guest's arm and shaking him. "G-give me my necklace back!"

"Huh?" He looked at her with a playful smirk. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Y-yes you do!" She cried, shaking his arm with more vigor.

She paused, deciding to take a different route. "Y-you know how important your raccoon chain is to you?"

"Yes," he nodded. "Why?"

"That's how important that necklace is t-to me, so, please give it back." She begged, sending him the saddest face that she could muster.

He rolled his eyes. "Fine," lifting up his hand, he uncurled his fingers to let the necklace drop to dangle in the air. "Why is this so important to you anyways?" He muttered looking at the cheap ring with a picture of a red porcupine looped into the chain - it looked more like a child's ring.

Flaky gingerly cupped the ring in her hands as he let go of the chain, letting it drop into her cupped palms. "B-because, I've had it since I was a kid. I-I can't r-remember who gave this to me though. All I know is I have to cherish it." She told him, putting it around her neck and struggling to hook it back together.

Lifty sighed, reaching over to take it out of her hands and hook it back together himself. "If it's so special - why do you hide it inside your shirt?" He asked, watching her hide the front of the necklace inside her shirt again.

"Because," Flaky smiled and pat the front of her sweater. "I f-feel less likely to lose it if I hide it in here."

"Hmm," Lifty leaned back on the couch, throwing an arm to rest along the back. "Have you ever wondered who got that for you?"

"I have," she replied, copying him by leaning back too, the back of her head bumping his arm. "But s-so far none of my f-friends recognize it. N-not even Flippy and I-I was sure it was him." She mumbled, poking her fingers together sadly.

Lifty's nose wrinkled, for some reason feeling irritated at the mention of the soldier again. "God. Do you think about anyone else but that asshole?"

"Huh?" Flaky looked up at him in confusion, deciding to ignore the curse for the moment. "I-I don't always think about F-Flippy."

"Yes, you do," Lifty snorted, using his arm to nudge her head forward. "You always mention him_ atleast_ once per day."

Dropping her head back down on his arm, Flaky looked away with pink cheeks. "Well, he is my best friend.."

"Doesn't matter," the couch moved and Flaky suddenly found a new weight on her lap as Lifty straddled her with a smirk. His hands combed through her hair as he brought his face down mere inches from her now burning one. Her trembling hands fisted around the material of the couch, finding herself petrified as he inched closer until their lips was just a breaths away from touching, she could see the full forest green color of his eyes and for a second began to think that his darker eyes were actually more beautiful than Flippy's own lighter emerald ones.

"It doesn't matter if he's your best friend, you shouldn't be thinking about him when you have someone as sexy as me to think about." And with one last brush through her hair, his body heat and weight disappeared completely from Flaky's form, leaving her staring in confusion at his departing back as he walked back to his room, laughing the whole way.

She touched her warm cheek, the other hand moving up to brush her bangs out of her face.

That's when she noticed he stole her white clips from her hair again.

**xXx**

**Shifty is finally mentioned again! :D…*throws a sack over AmI and tosses her in my closet*…nobody saw that.**

**Anyways, thanks for reading! :D**


	9. You're A Horrible Influence

**Managed to finally update. ;p Warning for nothing really, except maybe language.**

**xXx**

Teaching Lifty to be helpful around the house was proving to be quite difficult Flaky has discovered. He never helps unless it somehow benefitted him - whether it be for food or getting a chance to peek up her skirt - he refused to move a muscle unless he got something in return.

Apparently he's never heard of being kind and generous or ever lent a helping hand to a person in need. But then again, the way he jumped at the smell of food, practically devouring the whole plate like a starving dog told Flaky that he more than likely had a hard life before she took him in, probably only had his own self and his selfish brother to depend on. She was pretty sure he never really had enough money to even get himself real food before her, she knows about how the twins robberies usually ended up in bloody failure, resulting in them being broke and starving until they manage to snatch whatever they could get their hands on to curb their pained stomachs.

That's the only reason why she's been so lenient with his brash, unhelpful attitude. But it's been almost a month and she knows he's close to being fully healed and during that whole month he's been living the life, kicking back and just hanging out with free food surrounding him.

That's when she decided that she should try to be a bit tougher on him and teach him how to be a good guest and help out.

And first thing she decided to teach him, was how to wash and dry his own clothes. Telling him what to do and what to press on the machine, Flaky had left to try to relax for once.

But of course she couldn't do that when not even a couple minutes later she could hear loud cursing coming from the laundry room, standing up and rushing to the room, the redhead was horrified to find the floor covered in soapy water with the washing machine going off, overflowing with soapy suds. After messing with the dials in her panic, Flaky finally managed to shut off the machine - she still has no clue how in the world the thief had managed to make the machine go off like that, but the nonchalant grin he sent her told her that he either did it on purpose or he wasn't paying attention when she was giving him instructions earlier.

It was even worse when they opened the machine and removed all Nutty's shirts from the washer. He obviously did not listen when she told him not to mix the white shirts with the red.

Atleast, he helped her clean up the mess a bit until he got bored, gave up and snuck out the room to watch tv, leaving her to finish mopping up the floor herself.

Making a note to never let Lifty near the laundry room again, Flaky decided that teaching him how to wash dishes could be helpful. After spending a couple minutes of sending him her puppy dog eyes - she noticed that they work just as good on him as they do on Flippy - Flaky finally managed to get him off his ass with a roll of his eyes, blushing lightly and grumbling to himself as he followed her to the kitchen. Showing him how to do it and watching him wash one plate, Flaky felt that it was safe to leave him alone with his chore.

How wrong she was when she heard the shattering of a plate, she rushed back into the kitchen to see him glowering at the shattered pieces as he sucked on his cut finger, spewing out endless amounts of colorful words at an inanimate object. His washed plates were just as bad when she went to examine them, catching bits of food still stuck to the dishes that he didn't scrub off, along with bubbles from soap that he didn't properly rinse off.

She ended up having to retrieve a bandaid to wrap his finger in while she eyed the shattered plate along with the supposedly 'clean' ones.

Finishing up with his finger, she took a step back, brushing a hand through her hair and keeping it there, holding her bangs out of her face. She had finished work earlier and was too tired to deal with the mess he left behind after she had already finished cleaning the laundry room.

Lifty furrowed his brows at her, not sure if she was even aware of the frustrated look she was staring him down with; looking like she didn't know what to do with him. After a moment, she let out a tired sigh, turning around to leave and saying something about taking a nap before cleaning the dishes.

And all Lifty could do was stare at her retreating back with his own frustrated expression, not liking the unfamiliar tightening in his chest as he kept visualizing the look that she had sent him; like she was disappointed in him. He never gave a shit about what people thought of him before - so why did it bother him so much that she seemed disappointed in him, he always managed to successfully ignore and forget those looks from every other person in town...but for some reason, her's stuck in his head like a picture.

He absently rubbed his injured finger as he imagined that she probably was thinking of how useless he is - though inwardly he knows that Flaky could never think of someone in such a negative light, no matter how true it would be.

Biting his lip and turning his stare from the door to the sink, Lifty sighed and grabbed the trash can from the cabinet under the sink, proceeding to carefully pick up and discard every sharp piece of glass. Finished with that, Lifty noticed that her trash was filled almost to the top with various crap and decided that he should go throw it out.

After doing that and returning to the sink, Lifty began to wash the dishes albeit going a bit slower this time to make sure they're absolutely spotless, his finger throbbed underneath the rush of water and soap seeping into the bandage but he ignored it the best he can for the time being - after all, he's been through much worse pain than this.

By the time Flaky woke up and made her way to the kitchen, tying her unruly hair up into a ponytail; she was quite surprised to find that the shattered glass in the sink was gone, along with the plates in the dish rack being perfectly clean, not a speck of food or sud to be seen.

Her wide eyes eventually caught her green haired guest standing in front of the stove, stirring something in a pot. She blinked in disbelief a couple times and rubbed her eyes to see if she was seeing things, she then pinched herself to find out if she was still dreaming.

But when everything stayed the same, clean dishes and the male in front of the stove, Flaky could only do one thing: stare. Feeling that disbelieving stare, Lifty stopped what he was doing and turned his head to face her, smirking when he caught her wide eyes. "Evening Flakes~ Had a good nap?"

She could only nod dumbly as she shook her head to get out of her stupor. He watched as her eyes shifted to stare at the sink before turning back to him. "Did you...clean this?"

He nodded. "I took out the trash too, but I couldn't find where you put your trash bags to place in the bin..so yea-" He jolted forward when he felt another body bump into his back, almost knocking him onto the hot pot but he managed to catch himself by pressing a hand to the edge of the counter.

Thin arms wrapped around his waist as a head burrowed itself against his back, between his shoulder blades. He froze, tilting his head back to catch Flaky's cheerful gaze. "Thank you." She smiled brightly, leaning up on her tip toes to press a light kiss to his cheek.

All at once, Lifty felt his stomach burst into butterflies, his cheeks flaring up, he turned away before she could see; not understanding why he was so flustered from a simple kiss on the cheek. Maybe it's because it was so unexpected, that's why he was all embarrassed. Yeah. He'll go with that.

He cleared his throat. "Y-yeah, whatever." He muttered, stirring the soup in the pot.

With her arms still wound around his waist, Flaky peeked over his shoulder at what he was cooking. "Are you...making beef stew? I-I didn't know that you knew how to make that."

"I don't. I'm not even sure if I made this correctly. I'm only copying from when I watched you make it." He lifted a spoonful of soup from the pot and blew on it before holding it in front of Flaky's face, still trying to hide his red face from her. "Here. Try it and tell me if I did it right."

She smiled and leaned closer to him to reach the spoon. Lifty felt his eye twitch at the feeling of her soft chest squishing further onto his tense back. Does she even realize what she's doing?

Peeking from the corner of his eye, Lifty watched as she took a small sip. She didn't make any facial expression so he couldn't gauge what her reaction to his soup was until she told him. "It's good actually. J-just a bit too much seasoning. But other than t-that, it's delicious!"

"Thanks." He mumbled, watching her reach around him to turn off the stove, seeing that the soup was done cooking.

"And it's a good thing you decided to cook. Flippy called before I-I came out here and said that he'll be coming over for dinner. Y-you can show him how good of a cook you are." She giggled, taking the top and covering the soup, placing the spoon that Lifty was using on top.

Lifty grimaced, the pink on his cheeks fading at the mention of the soldier. Again, with the damn soldier. But he perked up a bit the thought of getting revenge on the other man from when he stuck his thumb in his soup.

"Alright, I'll serve the food tonight, okay?" He grinned, Flaky lifted a slender brow at him, pretty sure that she could see troublemaker written all over that toothy grin.

But she wasn't going to discourage him from helping when he offered for the first time during his whole stay. "O-okay, do you need help?"

"No. It's okay, you just go sit down and relax-" a knock sounded at the front door. "-or answer the door and sit at the table. I'll bring your guys food out."

Flaky nodded and ran off to answer the door as the knocking came again. Grabbing two bowls, Lifty began to fill them with soup, once finished with that and hearing the talking in the living room, Lifty placed spoons inside the soup filled bowls.

Sticking his thumb in his mouth and soaking it completely in his saliva, Lifty then stuck it in the hot soup, easily ignoring the burning feeling; he wanted revenge more than he cared about scalding his thumb. Placing the rest of his fingers underneath the bowl, Lifty picked it up from the counter before carefully lifting the other one and bringing them out to the living room table.

Automatically, he felt both their eyes on him but couldn't help his victorious smirk when he noticed Flippy's eyes immediately locking onto his thumb that was currently knuckle deep in the soup. He kept Flippy's bowl out of Flaky's sight as he placed hers in front of her with a smirk. "For you ma'am." He told her sweetly, getting a giggle out of her.

His free hand toyed with her hair to keep her occupied as he dropped Flippy's bowl down in front of him. "And for you_ sir_." He grinned evilly, discreetly sneaking his thumb out so that Flaky couldn't see. Licking his thumb like Flippy did to him last time, Lifty snickered. "Enjoy the food."

Flippy could only sit there, eye twitching as he stared down at his food with a disgusted expression, mirroring Lifty's look from last time. Guess this is karma biting him in the ass for messing with someone's food.

A hand touched his arm and he snapped his head up to see Flaky smiling gently at him. "Try it Flippy. Lifty made this, and I think it's good for his first try."

"Oh goody." He muttered, glowering down at his food. This is so gross, he doesn't know what Lifty could have done with his thumb before he stuck it in the soup.

He could have scratched his ass before sticking it in the soup for all Flippy knows.

Oh ew, Flippy turned a bit green at the thought.

That means he would be eating Lifty's ass.

"Come on Flippy. Try it." Flaky urged, taking a bite of her own food to encourage him.

"Yes Flippy, try it. I worked _really_ hard to make this just for you guys." Lifty grinned, leaning onto the table to stare at the disturbed male. He was thoroughly enjoying this since its not like Flippy could reject it without looking like a complete ungrateful jerk in front of Flaky.

Deciding that he doesn't want to give Lifty the satisfaction of him losing his temper and his lunch, Flippy steeled his nerves and tried to forget about Lifty's thumb that had resided in his soup and took a bite. He chewed slowly, tasting the slightly salty soup and swallowed.

He glared up at the grinning thief. "It was...good." His expression then softened as he turned to Flaky with a smile. "But not near as good as yours Flakes."

She blushed, turning back to her soup and timidly playing with the spoon. "T-thanks."

Lifty frowned at her reaction to Flippy's compliment, scoffing, he turned to head back into the kitchen to get his own food. "Well, I hope you eat it all." He snickered, disappearing around the corner before Flippy could say anything.

Dinner passed by peacefully, filled only with Flaky conversing with either one of the guys who happily ignored the other's existence.

Lifty ended up helping Flaky wash the dishes while Flippy watched tv in the living room. "Hey Flakes, you want to play a fun game when we finish with this?"

She paused her scrubbing to blink questionably at the male. "What kind of game?"

He finished wiping down the bowl and placed it in the dish rack. "I can teach you how to pick pocket soldier boy in there."

She gasped like he said something offensive. "S-steal from Flippy?!"

He jumped and pressed a finger to her lips. "Shhh, lower your voice a little will ya? It won't be as fun if he knows what we're gonna do."

"B-but, stealing is bad." Flaky muttered from behind his finger.

Lifty rolled his eyes. "No, it's not. And it doesn't matter, you need to learn how to have a little fun once in a while."

"B-but-"

"No buts. You want to try and have some fun for once, instead of just sitting in there and zoning at the tv?" He asked, taking the last bowl from her and washing it as she thought it over.

"Uhm, okay. But j-just this once!" She agreed after a couple moments of silence.

"Good. Now I'll teach how to do it without him noticing..." He paused, looking her over thoughtfully. "Nevermind, since you're a woman robbing from a man, you have an advantage..here's what you're going to do.."

**xXx**

Flippy was beginning to get suspicious on why the two was taking so long just to wash three bowls and was about to get up to see what the problem was when they suddenly exited from the kitchen at that exact moment.

His emerald eyes immediately narrowed in on Flaky nervously making her way too him with a grinning Lifty trailing right behind her. He cheerfully patted the seat next to him and she paused, wringing the bottom of her sweater before finally deciding to shyly take her seat next to him with Lifty plopping onto her other side.

He eyed the two suspiciously, wondering why Flaky was so fidgety at the moment. But when nothing happened and the two just continued to silently watch the tv, Flippy decided to just forget it and turn his attention back to the screen.

He never noticed Flaky glance up at him before looking at Lifty who nodded his head at her. Wringing her sweater for a couple minutes longer, Flaky finally found the courage to turn towards Flippy and lifted one of her thigh high covered legs to rest across his lap, drawing his attention back to her with wide eyes.

"F-Flaky?" He stammered, staring at her slender leg resting intimately on his lap.

He gulped audibly when he felt her hand on his belly, sensually trailing up to his chest until she reached his dog tags to play with, her other hand sneakily going around to his back. "Flaky?" He repeated, still getting no reply from her as she gazed up at him with cherry red cheeks.

He bit his lip, trying to calm himself down when he felt her leg move, rubbing against his inner thigh and unknowingly driving him nuts at the friction she provided. His hand shot out to grip her thigh, stopping her movements before all the blood in his body rushed down into a place it shouldn't be at with the thief sitting near them.

Suddenly, he felt her stop everything she was doing and pulled away from him to face Lifty with a wide smile. "I-I did it! I got it!" She cheered, showing him something that Flippy couldn't see.

Lifty grinned. "That's great. But you know, you're supposed to be more discreet about this kind of stuff."

"You got what?" Flippy asked in confusion after he managed to find his voice again.

Flaky jumped, remembering that he was right next to her. "Eeeee! I'm sorry! I-it was just a game! H-here!" She cried nervously and held out his wallet that she stole from his back pocket.

Lifty groaned and slapped his forehead. "You're not supposed to admit it and you're most definitely not supposed to return it."

Flabbergasted that all the seductive advances Flaky was doing was just to steal his wallet, Flippy could only gape at them as he accepted his wallet back. "You're teaching her how to steal?!"

Flaky shamefully ducked her head and stood up. "I'm sorry Flippy, I just wanted to play. I-it was p-pretty fun actually. Uhm, but I'll get you a drink to make up for it."

Watching her run out of the room, Lifty snickered. "She's pretty good at seducing and stealing, she could probably make a profession out of it. And don't act like you didn't enjoy it soldie-" He was cut off when in a flash Flippy's hand shot up and jabbed him in the throat, leaving him choking and trying to get air into his throbbing trachea.

"_Shut up_." Flippy growled, pissed that Lifty was the one that set Flaky up into teasing him like that. Got him all worked up for nothing.

His dark look was immediately replaced with a bright smile when Flaky rushed back out with a glass of soda, she handed it to Flippy who accepted it gratefully.

Noticing Lifty wheezing and grasping his throat, Flaky turned to him with a worried gasp. "A-are you okay Lifty? What's the matter?"

Turning his gaze to the side and catching Flippy's dark glare that promised worse than a damaged throat if he said anything, Lifty decided to lie. "N-nothing. A fly had flew into my mouth and I choked on it." He rasped.

"Oh no," Flaky replied, patting his back comfortingly. "I'll get you a glass of soda too."

Flippy took a sip of his soda when Flaky left the room, glowering at the thief next to him. "I should've known you'd be a terrible influence on her."

Lifty could do nothing but lift up his favorite finger at Flippy while rasping out a 'fuck you'.

**xXx**

***handcuffs AmI to me* You're not leaving my side….**_**ever.**_

**Anyways, this was pretty entertaining to write. Lifty finally got to have some revenge on Flippy. ;p**

**Thanks for reading! :D**


	10. It's Not Nice To Gossip

**Thanks Antoinette, I think I might use that suggestion in a later chap if I can fit it, it sounds adorable. X) and thanks to all the guest reviewers! There's so many of you unknown people! :D**

**After reading AmI's fic, I noticed I haven't let anyone but Flippy know about Lifty staying with Flaky, so this will contain Flaky having a little girl time. :3**

**Warning for language.**

**xXx**

Turning and letting out a loud yawn, Lifty threw the covers off of his sleeping form, slowly sitting up and scratching his head, he absently smacked his lips. Craving something to moisten his dry throat, he swung his legs and stood, still scratching his head.

With his eyes closed tiredly he walked forward and ran head first into his door, forgetting the fact that he closed it the night before. Grumbling to himself and rubbing his sore nose, Lifty twisted the knob and pushed the door halfway open before abruptly pausing.

He could hear talking down the hallway. Carefully poking his head out, the man peeked down the hallway to see who his hostess was talking to. He blinked when he spotted the girly pink haired girl seated comfortably on the couch and talking animatedly to someone he couldn't see which he could only guess was Flaky.

That's right. He had forgotten that she said that she'd be having guests over.

But he didn't know that she'd be having them over so damn early in the morning. Letting go of the door, he wandered to the nightstand and checked the clock.

Two o' clock...well, that's still too damn early for him.

Looking over himself and taking in the fact that he is dressed in only a pair of black pants, with his chest covered in the bandages; Lifty contemplated if he should go put on a shirt.

Finding that he doesn't care, he merely shrugged and headed back to the door, he was just going to get a drink and go back to his room anyways.

Sneaking out the door, the man silently made his way down the hall to reach the kitchen, though he still managed to catch Giggles eye on his way there. He only spared a passing glance at her startled expression before turning into the kitchen.

While he rummaged around for a cup, he could hear a third voice talking while Giggles sat there dumbfounded and could only assume that Petunia was there too, the two girls were inseparable after all.

Finding his favorite green cup that Flaky bought for him, he grabbed the bottle of coke in the fridge and poured it up to the rim. Recapping and putting away the soda, Lifty retrieved his drink and wandered out of the kitchen to go back to his room.

Glancing down the hall to the living room again, he saw that Giggles was still staring though she now gazed at him with a wary expression, her hand was in her purse, probably clutching a pepper spray, assuming that he was going to mug them. He rolled his eyes at her tense form and headed back to his room, taking a long sip of his soda.

Seeing him disappear, Giggles relaxed a bit, her shoulders slouching down. Though she still kept a watchful eye down the hall to make sure that he doesn't change his mind and come barreling down to rob her blind.

Turning to the redhead next to her, the pink haired woman poked her until she snagged her attention. "Flaky...do you know that you have a thief in your house? Is he forcing you to let him stay here? Do you want me to call Cuddles to get rid of him?" She questioned her friend hurriedly, eyes continuously darting from her friend to the empty hallway.

She was unaware of the fact that Lifty was leaning against the doorway to his room, using his acute hearing to eavesdrop on them. His eyes narrowed at the accusations that the pinkette was throwing towards him.

Flaky blinked at her friend that inched closer with each question that flew out of her mouth incredulously. "W-what thief?"

Giggles could only gape at her friend, wondering how she could not know that she had a thief in the house. "You know, one of those twins...Shifty or Lifty! I don't which one I saw, but you have one of those thieves in your house!" She cried, causing Lifty to roll his eyes again at the fact that she got him mixed up with his brother.

"O-oh, you mean Lifty?" Flaky smiled, not seeing why her friend is so distressed. "He's not forcing me. D-don't you remember? I told y-you guys that I was taking care of him because he was injured."

Petunia decided to finally bring herself back into the conversation. "You failed to mention that the person you were caring for is a thief." She stated calmly, though her eyes carried an equal amount of worry like her panicking friend.

Flaky began to get nervous under their intense stares directed straight at her. "I-I...he isn't that bad."

"You only think that because you haven't been robbed by them yet, they're bad! Rotten to the core!" Giggles cried, hysterically shaking her petite friend by the shoulders until Petunia slapped her hands off.

"Stop that, you're scaring her...and you're getting flakes everywhere." Petunia growled, scooping up the scattered flakes and tossing them into a nearby trash can, proceeding to pull out her hand sanitizer.

"But, she's right, you know," Petunia continued, smoothing the sanitizer all over her hands. "They haven't robbed you yet for whatever odd reason, so you don't know how bad they could be."

Blinking, Lifty stared down at his fizzy soda with a frown. Now that he thinks about it, Shifty and him never did steal from the shy redhead, the one that you would think would be the easiest to steal from.

He does recall a few times where they were deciding who they were going to steal from and he would point at the vulnerable Flaky, but for some reason, Shifty would shake his head and pass right over her to point at some other random person to steal from.

He never did ask his brother why he didn't want to rob Flaky, now he sorta wish that he did ask now that the curiosity is bugging him. But seeing no sense in dwelling on that he put his curiosity off to the side for now as he went back to his eavesdropping.

"A-actually he has stolen from me before, like my h-hairclips and wallet...even my p-pads.." Flaky piped up.

"...Your pads?" Giggles raised an eyebrow, frown tugging at the corner of her lips. "What the hell would he do with your pads?"

Flaky shrugged with a small smile. "But he always returns my stuff later. I think he just takes them when he's b-bored."

Squirting more hand sanitizer than what was necessary on her hand; Petunia finally put away the bottle as she rubbed her hands together and eyed her friend suspiciously. "He even returns your wallet?"

Even with the redhead's nod, the bluenette was still not convinced; there had to be some kind of catch, there's no way that he would return the wallet untouched. "With everything inside?"

"Y-yeah, I check my wallet and everything's there. I don't think he e-even looks inside, he just holds it until I notice that its missing." Flaky explained, poking her fingers together shyly.

"Hmm," Petunia seemed to be thinking as she smoothed whatever sanitizer that was left onto her arms, the other two girls raised an eyebrow at her actions; of course Petunia would be the only person who would put sanitizer onto their arms. "I've never heard of the twins returning anything they steal. They never even returned Cub's toy that they stole from him, even when the poor thing started crying."

"That's because they're a pair of monsters." Giggles muttered, still bitter about the fact that they stole her brand new makeup kit a long time ago. She spent a lot of Cuddles money for that kit!

"Maybe Lifty's different...he's nicer than his brother." Flaky shrugged, not sure what else to say.

"I wonder," Petunia mumbled, reaching behind her to fix her ponytail; a couple strands of hair was hanging in her face and she needed to get them back into the rubberband where they belong. "Maybe he likes you. I mean it wouldn't be surprising, you're so nice to anyone."

"Yeah!" Giggles butted in, poking Flaky's now red cheeks. "I mean even Nutty had a crush on you once and he doesn't like anything but candy!"

"W-what?! N-no he didn't!" Flaky cried in embarrassment.

Though now that she thought back on it, she did remember being tackled into enthusiastic hugs numerous times in a day at one point and the fact that he followed her around more often. But his crush must have wore off after awhile, seeing as the crazy amount of hugs has lessened along with him following her everywhere.

"O-oh, I guess he did." Flaky mumbled bashfully once she had recalled how the hyper boy had showered her in overwhelming attention before.

"I can't believe you're only now realizing this!" The pinkette giggled, playfully pushing her friend.

Lifty frowned from his place at the doorway; the sugar freak had a crush on her? He'll have to remember to steal all the boy's candy when he gets better.

"Still, I can't help but think," Petunia started, turning the conversation back to her. "Does he genuinely like you? Or is he trying to butter you up for something else?"

"W-what do you mean?" Flaky asked, not sure what her germophobic friend was trying to imply.

The bluenette turned to her friend with a dead serious face. "Has he tried to have sex with you?"

The redhead turned a bright scarlet at the blunt question, waving her hands in the air frantically as she tried to stutter out a reply to deny her question.

Down the hallway, Lifty was currently choking seeing as she had to ask that right when he was taking a sip of his soda, surprising him and making the liquid go down the wrong pipe. He hacked and some of the liquid managed to come out of his windpipe as he used his bed sheets to muffle his coughs.

What the fuck kind of question was that?!...Though he won't lie about the fact that he has thought about sleeping with his cute hostess. But it doesn't mean that that's what he was after, he was just showing her his gratitude for taking care of him.

If anything, that's something that his asshole brother would do.

Sighing after hearing Flaky frantically denying the idea of the thief trying to steal her innocence, Petunia stared at her with a stern look. "Nonetheless, I want you to be careful. You don't know what he may try when he's better, he may just take...advantage of you. And I really don't want that to happen to you." She laid a hand on top of Flaky's own comfortingly.

"Uhm, I-I don't think he would do th-"

"Yeah! What Petunia said! Who knows, this whole him being injured and you taking him in thing could have been some kind of elaborate plan that they made to rob you." Giggles added in from her other side.

"Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised. I mean, they're nothing but a couple of low down crooks. I wouldn't put it against them to try to find a way into your home to take advantage of you and steal everything that you own." Petunia said, holding her hand tightly as her expression became more worried. "All they care about is themselves and money."

Flaky stayed silent, glancing back and forth between the two in disbelief. Could they really have concocted up such a strange plan in order to get atleast one of them into her home?

She frowned, thinking back to when Shifty was deliberately causing more agony for his already pained brother.

No.

There's no way that Lifty staying at her place was a ploy to get her stuff.

The man in question gritted his teeth from his place at his doorway, seething with anger at the two gossiping girls in the living room. He didn't understand why he's so pissed about them talking about him being nothing but a criminal; usually when he heard people talking about him like that, he would easily brush it off or even snicker at how notorious he and his brother was.

But now he could only feel his anger growing steadily higher with each word that shot out of their rapidly moving mouths - and it didn't help that Flaky wasn't saying anything. Maybe she believed them?

His hand tightened around his cup at that thought.

"H-he's not trying to trick me. I know he's not." Flaky finally spoke up, surprising the two girls at the determined stare that she sent them.

"Oh Flaky," Petunia pat her hand. "You're much too kind for your own good. I would never be able to trust either of those thieves."

"I really hope that you're planning on kicking him out when he gets better." Giggles told her, glossy lips turned downward. "You are, right?"

Lifty stiffened, waiting for her answer with bated breath, but the bluenette cut in before she could answer, much to his annoyance.

"You know if there was going to be any guy staying with you, I figured that it would have been Flippy. You two seemed unnaturally close for people who are 'just friends'." Petunia told her with a smug smirk.

"Yeah, I hope you don't like the thief when you have a sexy army man like Flippy to bone." Giggles broke out into hysterical laughter while Petunia rolled her eyes at her perverted friend.

"Okay, Giggles, one. Never say that again - that's something that guys say about girls and two, she is right. Flippy is much more suited for you than a petty crook who can do nothing but steal." Petunia informed her, turning her attention to Flaky's hair and trying to pick out each piece of dandruff that lingered on her red locks.

"Yeah, and Flippy is more handsome, stronger, richer, and actually cares about others more than himself." Giggles lifted a finger for each quality that she listed about him. She then used that hand to cover her sly grin as she eyed Flaky mischievously. "And he's probably great in bed."

Flaky's face burst into color once again causing the pinkette to bust out into another fit of laughter.

With a burning face and his chest clenching painfully, Lifty tuned them out. God, he never thought that he would feel this insecure in his life. That was just plain unfair, they were comparing him to a man who had way too much accomplishments to compete with - the man was in a fucking war! How the hell was he supposed to compete with that?

Slamming his empty cup onto the nightstand, Lifty slid down to sit on the ground to help calm his anger at the two females down. Digging his fingers into his forest colored hair, he let out a low growl. Why was it bothering him so much to be compared to Flippy?

He didn't give a shit about being better than the soldier...his eyes narrowed in thought...the thing that bothered him was that they were saying that Flippy was a better match for Flaky than him.

But why should he care about that? He didn't care about her beyond the fact that she was taking care of him.

She was just someone he was using to get free food and a house to stay at, nothing more.

Right?

**xXx**

Standing at the open door, Flaky waved at her departing friends with an exasperated smile. She loved them, she really did. But they can get overwhelming with how much they talk sometimes.

Shutting the door and spinning around, Flaky squeaked when her nose bumped into a solid chest. Trailing her eyes up to catch Lifty's grinning face, she backed up a bit with a smile.

"Oh, you're up finally. You w-want something to eat?" She asked him.

Her smile waned a bit when instead of answering, he took a step forward, forcing her to take one back until he had her trapped against the door; his arms moving up to lay on either side of her head. "That was a nice little get together, huh?"

Her smile had disappeared completely at that point, in its place was confusion painted all over her nervous face. One hand moved up to push weakly at his chest when he pressed much to close, sandwiching her between him and the door. "W-what do y-you mean?"

"I noticed that I was the main topic of conversation for your little gossiping bitches." He growled, fisting her hair and forcing her to look at him after she had tried to turn away.

"They d-didn't mean the things that they said." Flaky told him in a small voice, feeling her confidence lower under his hard gaze along with her nervousness growing tenfolds.

He yanked her head up towards his, lowering his face inches away from her own, heated breath blowing along her rosy flesh as he growled out, "you and I know full well that they meant every single word that they said."

Flaky gulped audibly, unable to think properly with the way he was invading her personal space to the point that she could feel every single breath that left his mouth. Her other hand moved up to join the first one at pushing his chest to get him to back off a bit, but her efforts only worked to trap her further in when he reached down and wrapped his fingers around her tiny wrists, lifting them up and pressing them against the door next to her head as he smirked at her.

"So? What do you think? Are they right? Am I just staying with you to steal from you?" He asked her with his smirk that seemed forced, he let out a bitter chuckle. "After all, I'm nothing more than a low down crook, so maybe they're right."

Silence reigned between them for a couple seconds before Flaky finally found her voice again. "No. I know that you're not just t-tricking me. I know that you're more than just a c-common thief."

"You...y-you're," his eyes darted down to see the tip of her tongue peek out to swipe along her dry lips, Flaky blinked, not understanding the foreign emotion that suddenly appeared in his eyes as he gazed openly at her lips. "You're b-better than your brother."

She flushed when he abruptly lowered down until his lips just barely brushed against hers, his breath tickling the sensitive flesh and causing her eyes to flutter close, wondering what would happen if she were to lean forward and completely close the space. He seemed to think about it before his lips changed direction and instead moved to the corner of her mouth, letting go of one of her hands and pulling her hair back until she was facing the ceiling, Lifty let his lips move south to trail down to her exposed throat, giving it gentle nips and kisses that had the redhead whimpering, her free hand holding onto his naked shoulder.

"Do you think that Flippy is better looking than me?" He murmured against the skin of her neck.

She gasped when he languidly licked up the length of her neck, starting from the very bottom to the underside of her chin, his free hand slid down her back to slip beneath her sweater, laying his palm flat against her lower back, he pressed her closer to him. He grinned, enjoying the shiver that wracked her frame as he continued lavishing her throat with licks and kisses; he felt satisfaction when he could feel her heart racing against his chest, her breath coming out in unsteady puffs.

"N-no," she finally managed to gasp out through his lustful onslaught he was unleashing on her neck. "T-to be honest, I-I find you a-alot more attractive."

Oh, that definitely brought his confidence right back up, releasing her other wrist he reached down and hooked his fingers onto the underside of her thighs, hoisting them up and wrapping them around his waist as he eagerly dove down and latched his mouth around a patch of skin on her neck, greedily sucking the addictive flesh.

She yelped and clutched onto his shoulders for leverage, his hips jerked forward and she gasped, the friction providing a strange sort of pleasure that she's never felt before between her legs, his hands were sliding up and down the flesh of her back, and lips stuck firmly to her neck, her breath hitched when his hips rolled forward for a second time, and everything was happening so fast she could barely breath. She wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her nose at the top of his dark hair. "I-I would never k-kick you out." She breathed lowly to herself, remembering the question that Giggles asked her earlier that she never got the chance to answer.

But he still managed to hear it, his heart soared at those words. Those bitches were wrong; she wasn't just going to kick him to the curb when he gets better. Flaky wouldn't do that.

She would never do that, she was much too kind and sweet and cute and, and...

And what the fuck was wrong with him?

Pulling away from the petite female, he let her go back onto her feet as he backed away, running a hand through his hair, he stared at her in immense confusion. His whole body was hot, a bead of sweat ran down his temple, his breaths leaving in hot bursts through his parted lips...and all he wanted to do was push her back up against the door and finish from where they left off.

He shook his head frantically. What the hell was she doing to him? He cares about no one but himself.

Yep. Only himself. He didn't need anyone else.

Panting, Flaky held out a shaky hand to the confused man, her face holding a concerned look at his sudden withdrawal.

"I need a cold shower." He muttered quietly, spinning around and hurrying off, desperately hoping that she didn't see the tent that has become painfully obvious in his pants.

Yeah, he didn't like her. He was merely toying with her for his entertainment. He's only somewhat nice to her because she saved his life.

He only had himself to care about.

Those were his constant thoughts as he ripped off his pants and boxers and stepped into the ice cold shower.

**xXx**

**Hmm, does this seem rushed? I really don't want to be rushing their relationship, though I want to make them get together already. xD**

***drags AmI until she's standing in front of boony* tell him you're sorry for trying to kill him and take him off your hitlist. **_**Now. Before I decide to have my way with you.**_

**Thanks for reading! :D**


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